Bill Mott

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, f, 7f, 4:25 p.m. Bill Mott sends out first-timer and WinStar homebred PARIS LIGHTS (Curlin) in this test. Her dam Paris Bikini (Bernardini), a $425,000 purchase at Keeneland January in 2016, is a three-quarter sister to Grade III winner and dual Grade I-placed America (A.P. Indy). The latter is the dam of the now 2-year-old colt Virtuous Intention (Curlin), who fetched $1.5 million from West Point, Woodford, Siena, Valdes, Singleton, Sandbrook & Freeman at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. This is...

Lots of people have been borrowing wartime terminology and metaphors for the current crisis. Yet it has long worried me that global leaders now belong to a generation with no memory of the second World War, never mind any direct involvement. Hardly a coincidence, perhaps, if populism and nationalism around the world are driven by people without their parents' visceral grasp of the stakes involved, when those sources of political energy overheat. Whether a pandemic-indifferent to borders, race or creed-will renew their sense of the collective interests of the species...

How innocent we all were, in hindsight. Maybe you, like me, were in town from colder climes; feeling your whole soul opening, flower-like, to the unaccustomed warmth of the Miami springtime. From the upper arcade I gazed superciliously at Maximum Security (New Year's Day) as he strolled round the parade ring. The hometown upstart had won three sprints by an aggregate 35 lengths, but you could have claimed him for $16,000 on his debut. Yes, everyone cautioned that Jason Servis, at a 45% clip through the meet, could do unexpected...

5th-Gulfstream, $44,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($35,000), 3-1, 4yo/up, 6f, 1:09.25, ft. HIDDEN SCROLL (c, 4, Hard Spun--Sheba Queen, by Empire Maker), named a 'TDN Rising Star' after a 14-length debut romp in the slop last January that earned him a gaudy 104 Beyer Speed Figure, finally put it all together again Sunday to stamp himself as one to watch in 2020. The Juddmonte homebred set a much-too-fast pace before fading to fourth at 6-5 behind Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) in the GII Xpressbet Fountain of Youth S. 12...

With no standouts to be found, but plenty of lightly raced horses with potential, Saturday's GIII Palm Beach S. at Gulfstream drew a dozen sophomore turfers all looking for their first black-type success on the lawn. The lone stakes winner in the field is narrow 4-1 morning-line favorite South Bend (Algorithms). Starting his career three for three, including a score in the Street Sense S. on the Churchill main track Oct. 27, the Sagamore Farm colorbearer was sixth in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. and fourth in the local...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - When Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal, the chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, first started talking publicly last summer about creating the world's richest horse race, King Abdulaziz Racetrack didn't even have a turf course. Half a year later, the Riyadh oval is poised to host a world-class day of racing. Saturday's card is highlighted by the $20-million Saudi Cup, but also includes the $2.5-million Longines Turf H., $1.5-million Saudia Sprint, $1-million Mohamed Yousef Naghi Motors Cup, and $1-million STC 1351 Turf Sprint....

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton When you think of the Fair Grounds and its series of GI Kentucky Derby preps, it's easy to conjure up images of stamina-centric closers who can stay all day. The track's imposing 1,346-foot home stretch--for decades billed as the longest in North America, until the reconfigured Los Alamitos surpassed it by 34 feet in 2014--is the primary reason. The other, which is new this year, is the elongated change in distance for the three races in the Fair Grounds' January-March prep series. Most...

Twelve months ago in the GII Risen Star S., the Bill Mott barn was represented by Country House (Lookin At Lucky), who was having his fourth career run and was exiting a maiden-breaking victory going two turns for the first time. Seeking to improve on that now-retired runner's second-place effort a year ago, Modernist (Uncle Mo) argued the pace from the inside and fought his way to a 12-1 upset over Major Fed (Ghostzapper). Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic), who battled up front with Modernist clung on for third, while even-money...

The 2019 GI Kentucky Derby winner Country House (Lookin At Lucky--Quake Lake, by War Chant) has been retired following a bout with laminitis, according to a statement put out by the Country House ownership group Friday evening. The 4-year-old, campaigned by Mrs. Joseph Shields Jr., E.J.M. McFadden Jr. and LNJ Foxwoods, was promoted to first in the Derby after the disqualification of champion Maximum Security (New Year's Day), retires with two wins in seven starts and earnings of $2,120,175. Stud plans are forthcoming. "On June 27, Country House was sent...

Harvey's Lil Goil started a bit slowly, but finished fast to dominate Sunday's Busanda S. at Aqueduct and become the fifth black-type winner for her Triple Crown-winning champion first-crop sire--on his birthday no less. A debut fourth on the local lawn Nov. 9, the grey broke through by an emphatic six-length margin going a mile over this good main track Dec. 12 and was heavily supported to see out a additional furlong for this. Away last, Harvey's Lil Goil was hung very wide while trying to make up some ground...

Somewhere along the way, the Sport of Kings became the racing industry. That was inevitable because that's the way of the modern world in which most people have to earn a living. However, for many it remains a sport in which the joy comes from taking part, with the wins being the icing on the cake and any financial return a bonus. Few have played the game with a truer Corinthian spirit or more successfully than Bertram and Diana Firestone, who have graced the upper echelons of the sport which...

9th-GP, $51K, Alw/Opt. Clm ($35,000), 4yo/up, 6f, 4:38 p.m. ET There are select few horses who have the ability to win by 14 lengths in their career debut with a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure, but that's what Juddmonte homebred HIDDEN SCROLL (Hard Spun) accomplished last January on the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. undercard at Gulfstream. Named a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star' that day, the bay had the racing world buzzing about what was to come, but failed to find the mark in three subsequent tries, albeit with some...