Incredibolt

Trainer Brad Cox had a pair of horses work Friday ahead of a projected next start in the GI Kentucky Derby. Both Wathnan Racing's GI Florida Derby winner Commandment (Into Mischief) (:48.40 {14/44}) and St. Elias Stable and Starlight Racing's GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks winner Fulleffort (Liam's Map) (:48.40 {14/44}) recorded published four-furlong workouts Friday morning. Commandment was the first of the two Cox trainees to breeze and worked in company with George Messina's Louisiana-bred stakes winner He's Late Again (Aurelius Maximus). The duo completed an opening quarter-mile in :24.40...

Make that two spots in the starting gate reserved for the Bernhard Family's Pin Oak Stud and trainer Riley Mott in the GI Kentucky Derby. Albus (Yaupon), a visually impressive maiden winner at third asking at Tampa Bay Downs Feb. 27, punched his ticket to Louisville with an 11-1 upset in Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct. Fellow longshots Right to Party (Constitution) and Ocelli (Connect) were second and third, respectively. Favored GIII Gotham S. winner Iron Honor (Nyquist) tired to seventh after getting bumped hard on the clubhouse...

by T.D. Thornton-Last Saturday's news that the No. 1-ranked Paladin (Gun Runner) will miss the GI Kentucky Derby with a non-displaced condylar fracture of his right front ankle created a vacancy atop this list. Any set of Derby rankings abhors a vacuum, but it wasn't easy deciding which of several worthy candidates out of the GI Florida Derby and GI Arkansas Derby would take over the kingpin slot.   1) COMMANDMENT (c, Into Mischief-Sippican Harbor, by Orb) O-Wathnan Racing; B-Lee Pokoik (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. Sales history: $485,000 RNA Wlg...

Riley Mott, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, has come a long way in the 3 1/2 years he has been training on his own. He's already won more than 100 races and collected a pair of Grade I wins, including World Beater (Oscar Performance)'s score in last year's GI Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. And now it looks like he'll have a starter in this year's GI Kentucky Derby. In winning the Virginia Derby, the Mott-trained Incredibolt (Bolt d'Oro) earned enough points to guarantee himself a spot in...

Trainer Riley Mott joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the steady growth of his stables in its first four years and the emergence of a top-level talent. Following Incredibolt's impressive score in the Virginia Derby, Mott talks about the progression of his stable star and the team's plans as they look toward the Kentucky Derby.

Rome was not built in a day. So at a time when Derby dreams can only be maintained by one horse dashing those of several others, let's celebrate a revival that should give hope to any now finding themselves obliged to retreat and regroup. This time last year Built (Hard Spun) was slithering down the sophomore pyramid. He had started out thrashing a smart horse in the Gun Runner Stakes, but each of the three subsequent Fair Grounds trials went worse. He did make Churchill on the first Saturday in...

Less than 48 hours after Colonial Downs was coated in three inches of fresh snow, Saturday's Virginia Derby, the last 50-point prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, will have competitors and visitors alike dreaming of warmer things to come on the first Saturday in May. Now in its second year, the newly-repositioned Virginia Derby (moved up from the track's traditional summer meet) drew a field of 10 after running with just seven entries in its inaugural edition won by the late D. Wayne Lukas's American Promise (Justify)....

With nominations for the $500,000 Virginia Derby closing Wednesday, Feb. 25, GSW Incredibolt (Bolt d'Oro) and Ocelli (Connect) have emerged as likely starters, Colonial Downs said in a press release on Friday. The 1 1/8-mile Virginia Derby will be run Saturday, Mar. 14, highlighting Colonial Downs's three-day meet held Mar. 12-14. Nominations for all seven opening week stakes also close Feb. 25. Held just under two months from the GI Kentucky Derby, the Virginia Derby awards 50-25-15-10-5 qualifying points to the top five finishers toward a berth in the "Run...

From his earliest lessons at Pin Oak Stud, Incredibolt (Bolt d'Oro) has handled everything asked of him with ease. Now, his team is hoping that trend continues in the GIII Holy Bull Stakes. Pin Oak's Director of Farm Operations and Property Michael Hardy said that the GIII Street Sense Stakes winner has not missed a beat since his win at Churchill Downs. Following a brief layoff on the farm, the Riley Mott trainee moved to Palm Meadows and has put in a series of six weekly drills, including a bullet...

It is called the Breeders' Cup for a reason. Yes, the commercial sector revolves to a neurotic degree around stallions, which is why the stakes are so high for the colts at Del Mar this weekend. But breeding those horses in the first place was at least as much about the mares, meaning that many of us will be no less engrossed by the auctions staged in Lexington immediately afterwards. By the same token, our curiosity about Incredibolt--who last weekend stole a march on his peers lining up for the...

Pin Oak Stud's Incredibolt (Bolt d'Oro) lived up to his name when rallying from last to surge past 7-5 favorite Universe (Global Campaign) in deep stretch and win Sunday's GIII Street Sense Stakes on opening day of Churchill Downs' 136th Fall Meet. Breaking from post 7 on the far outside, Incredibolt was wide into the first turn and unhurried in last early as unbeaten Ganaas (War Front) set modest early fractions of :24.29 and :48.83. Into the final turn, Incredibolt began to pick up the pace and zipped into fourth...

A horse by the name of Sovereignty (Into Mischief) showed up for last year's GIII Street Sense Stakes as a maiden and departed as one of the leaders of the division with a remarkable come-from-behind rally to break his maiden. It waits to be seen whether any of the seven juvenile signed on for Sunday's renewal can achieve similar heights, but--as always in this business--hope springs eternal. The single, most solid piece of form in the field belongs to Universe (Global Campaign), whose trainer Ken McPeek sent out King Fury...