Bill Mott

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack reveals a pair of selections for the first Saturday of the Saratoga meeting. Race 1, Msw, $136k, 2yo, 5 1/2f, post time: 1:10 p.m. ET There's every chance that National Treasure (Quality Road)'s half-brother and rail-drawn 4-5 morning-line favorite Pirate (Omaha Beach) turns out to be a complete monster, but I'll be taking a shot against him with fellow firster Special Element (Copper Bullet). There's plenty of precocity in Special Element's pedigree. His freshman sire Copper Bullet, winner of the 2017 GII Saratoga Special...

2nd-Saratoga, $105,945, Msw, 7-13, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:05.14, ft, 6 lengths. SUGAR HI (f, 2, Twirling Candy--Laughing Matters, by Medaglia d'Oro) tipped her hand for trainer Bill Mott early off a series of quick drills and was subsequently slammed down from her 8-1 morning line into the 2-1 favorite's role for the first 2-year-old maiden race of the 2023 Saratoga meet. Picked up for just $180,000 out of last year's Keeneland September Sale, the bay broke with intent from her outside draw and was up to press the pace...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When three veteran turf writers approached him at his Saratoga barn last week, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott impishly decided to reverse roles. Before the journalists were able to offer more than a hello, Mott started asking pretty much the same questions he knew were coming his way. For several seconds, the interviewee was the light-hearted interviewer. Mott knows the drill. He has been training horses since he was a teenager in Mobridge, South Dakota, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of...

1st-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:05 p.m. The first foal out of MGISW Elate (Medaglia d'Oro), EXHILARATE (War Front) debuts for her dam's connections of Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider and trainer Bill Mott. Elate, who took both the GI Alabama S. and the GI Beldame S., is out of a daughter of MGSW/MGISP Yell (A.P. Indy), also the producer of GISP Chide (Blame) and the dam of MGSW Tax (Arch). Exhilarate enters off a best-of-44 bullet drill two works back, going four furlongs in :48 2/5 at...

There were 13 graded stakes races run in North America Saturday and the combination of Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox and Mark Casse won eight of them. That's three Hall of Famers and two future Hall of Famers. Not that any of this should come as a surprise. The so-called super trainer stables seem to only be getting bigger and more powerful by the day, leaving everyone else to fight over the leftover scraps. So what chance did Jason Cook have in the GII John A. Nerud...

Ellis Park will host its first Grade I race in its 100-year history Saturday, but there are plenty of other graded stakes scheduled before the Fourth of July at Belmont Park, Delaware Park, Woodbine Racetrack and Gulfstream Park. Here's a rundown of what's on tap. Showdown in Belmont's Dwyer One of two graded stakes on Saturday in Elmont is the GIII Dwyer S. Going a mile, the race pits Fort Bragg (Tapit), who was forced to scratch from the GI Woody Stephens S. by trainer Bob Baffert when the 3-year-old...

Juddmonte's GISW Elite Power (Curlin) and MGISW Cody's Wish (Curlin) both worked for trainer Bill Mott over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga this past week. Elite Power went three-eighths in 36.02 on Saturday, June 24 in his first breeze since his 1 3/4-length score in the GII True North S. on Belmont Stakes Day. The 5-year-old chestnut is targeting Saratoga's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. on July 29. "He worked fine. We'll run in the Vanderbilt," the Hall of Fame trainer said. Mott indicated that Elite Power's main year-end...

It was a banner weekend for Godolphin homebreds during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Cody's Wish (Curlin) added another chapter to racing's feel-good story with a powerful, come-from-behind victory in the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. The GI Kentucky Oaks winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) validated her upset neck victory on the first Friday in May with a heart-stopping victory in the GI Acorn S. The up-and-coming Loved (Medaglia d'Oro)--a 4-year-old half-sister to MGISW and young Darley stallion Maxfield (Street Sense)--made it three straight...

8th-Churchill Downs, $129,430, Alw (NW1X), Opt. Clm ($100,000), 6-2, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:35.27, ft, 8 1/4 lengths. SCYLLA (f, 3, Tapit--Close Hatches {Ch. Older Mare, MGISW, $2,707,300}, by First Defence) was pounded into 1-3 favoritism to build on a 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy display over six furlongs at Keeneland Apr. 15 and ran away from her dramatically overmatched rivals in the final stages of a one-mile Churchill allowance Friday to score with condescending ease to take a major step in the direction of stakes company. The bay filly settled between horses...

8th-CD, $127K, OC 100k/N1X, 3yo, f, 1m, 4:22 p.m.    'TDN Rising Star' SCYLLA (Tapit), a daughter of champion older mare and MGISW Close Hatches (First Defence), takes on winners for the first time following an eye-catching, come-from-behind debut victory for Bill Mott going six furlongs at Keeneland Apr. 15. The Juddmonte homebred, favored at 9-5 on the morning line while stretching to a one-turn mile here, is a full-sister to the multiple Classic-placed Tacitus, MGSW & MGISP, $2,267,350. TJCIS PPS

Two weeks after it was announced that Eric Reed had resigned as the trainer of Rich Strike (Keen Ice), the 2022 GI Kentucky Derby winner has found a new home. Owner Rick Dawson has chosen Hall of Famer Bill Mott to take over the training duties. The story was first reported by Horse Racing Nation. "I have followed Bill's career for a while and have always been impressed with how he prepares his horses," Dawson said. "I wasn't on the inside, but it always seemed to me that he is...

9th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3yo/up, f, 7fT, 5:12 p.m. The first foal out of GIII Go for Wand H. heroine Indulgent, MAY FANE (Uncle Mo) dons the royal blue as a Godolphin homebred for trainer Bill Mott. Indulgent is herself a daughter of Fast Cookie, making her a half-sister to MGISW and Darley stallion Frosted (Tapit) and to the dam of GSW/GISP Caramel Swirl (Union Rags). Third dam Fleet Lady, also a graded-stakes winner herself, produced champion 2-year-old colt Midshipman (Unbridled's Song). Further down in the family are MGISP Solomini (Curlin),...