By Jill Williams
A week ago, if Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had been able to look into the future and see a preview of himself heading to the winner's circle on Breeders' Cup Saturday, he would likely have rested easily, fairly certain he would be winning the GI Classic for a third time. After all, he shipped just two horses across the country for the 42nd Breeders' Cup, headlined by dual Classic winner Sovereignty (Into Mischief), whose expected appearance as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the Classic helped make it the most anticipated race of the year.
It was not to be. Wednesday morning saw Mott make the dreaded announcement Sovereignty would be scratched after spiking a fever. The disappointment throughout the sport was palpable.
If Mott was tempted to pack up and head back home, he'll be glad he stayed. He may have had to sit out the Classic, but he got a pretty nice consolation prize as he extended his record as the winningest trainer in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff when Scylla (m, 5, Tapit–Close Hatches, by First Defence), a Juddmonte homebred and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', ran away with the $2-million race.
“I'll tell you, it's been a mixed bag of emotions,” mused Mott after the Distaff. “We were really disappointed, but it didn't take long really to accept what happened to Sovereignty. I think everybody that's connected has been through it, and I've been through it. We knew when that happened that he wouldn't be able to compete, not at the level that he would need to.
“It seems as though he's recovering well, but he's really not the story here. He's not the story for this race. This one is all about Scylla and about Junior [Alvarado] and the Juddmonte connections. Today we were a great team. Scylla did it for us.”
Scylla more than did her part to lift the barn's spirits Saturday. She may have been 15-1 on the Distaff morning line, but she ran like a heavy favorite, marking Mott's sixth victory in the Distaff following Royal Delta (2011-12), Unrivaled Belle (2010), Escena (1998), and Ajina (1997).
The complexion of the Distaff quickly changed right out of the gate as even-money favorite–and GI Clement L. Hirsch Stakes winner over this surface–Seismic Beauty (Uncle Mo) stumbled mightily after stutter stepping at the break. A winner all four times she's made the early lead, Seismic Beauty was taken out of her game, but it might not have mattered in the end as Scylla had brought her game face. The bay snatched the front to speed through :22.27 and :45.75 early fractions as GI Spinster winner Gin Gin (Hightail) pressured her from the outside. Seismic Beauty rushed up to join the front pair while three wide, but Scylla was too much for them all and held sway as the other two soon yielded.
Scylla kept going, turning back a challenge from GI Alabama Stakes victress Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) three furlongs from home, and kicked clear, extending her advantage down the lane. Ears alert and wearing the iconic Juddmonte silks, Scylla crossed the line 5 1/2 lengths the best.
“Once we hit the half-mile pole, I was like, 'Oh boy, I mean, I feel loaded right now,'” said winning rider Junior Alvarado, who is the regular rider of Sovereignty and was winning his fourth career Breeders' Cup race, all since 2022. “And then when I turned for home and she just like rebroke again…I mean, it was an outstanding race today for her.”
Mott added: “I didn't know how it would go. She broke, she put him there, and Junior had the good sense not to drag her back. When you let them go the lead, there is a risk that you are going to go fast. And she did. And she kept going. I was a little worried she might come back to them. I kept watching and she turned for home and opened up two (lengths).”
Nitrogen finished second, while GIII Delaware Handicap winner Regaled (Mohaymen) and GI Cotillion Stakes winner Clicquot (Quality Road) were third and fourth, respectively. Both Seismic Beauty and Gin Gin, who had broken through the gate as the field was loading, were eased late, but both walked off under their own power.
Scylla got the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.07. In addition to marking the sixth win for her trainer, she added to a long list of Breeders' Cup trophies for Juddmonte. She is the global operation's eighth winner as breeder and 11th winner as owner. Among Juddmonte's previous winners was homebred Idiomatic (Curlin), who is closely related to Scylla, and who won the Distaff in 2023.
Rarely off the board, Scylla was last seen third behind Gin Gin and Nitrogen in the Spinster and second sprinting behind Saturday's GI Filly and Mare Sprint third Hope Road (Quality Road) in the GI Ballerina Stakes. Fourth last year in the Filly and Mare Sprint, Scylla's previous visits to the winner's circle include the GII Fleur de Lis Stakes and the GIII Shawnee Stakes, both in 2024. Her seven previous graded placings include four Grade I efforts.
The Distaff was scheduled to be Scylla's swan song. She will join the Juddmonte broodmare band.
Junior Alvarado celebrates aboard Scylla | Horsephotos
Pedigree Notes:
With Scylla's Distaff victory, Gainesway sensation Tapit moves into a tie for second by all-time Breeders' Cup winners among sires. She is his eighth overall Breeders' Cup winner and his second winner in the Distaff following Untapable in 2014. Tapit, who will be 25 next year and is scheduled to stand for $185,000, has 107 graded winners and 171 black-type winners, in addition to seven North American champions.
Scylla's female family is equally regal. Her dam, five-time Grade I winner Close Hatches (First Defence), also trained by Mott, finished second to Beholder in the 2013 Distaff. In the dozen years since, she's added an Eclipse championship (2014) and has produced three graded winners, including the Mott-trained MGSW and MGISP Tacitus, a full-brother to Scylla. Close Hatches is a full-sister to the dam of Juddmonte's 2023 Distaff winner Idiomatic and is a great-great granddaughter of 1982 Broodmare of the Year Best in Show. Close Hatches has an unraced 2-year-old filly named Crowning Glory (Uncle Mo), and has been bred to Gun Runner three years running, resulting in a yearling filly, a weanling colt, and a full-sibling to those two due in 2026.
“When [Scylla] was born…you just look at her and you go, 'God, that's exactly as we scripted it.' That's exactly what we want,” said Juddmonte's Garrett O'Rourke. “Close Hatches has never had a bad day. She always looked magnificent. She always had a lovely temperament, and she became a champion… She has some more to come that are just lovely. She's just a gift that keeps on giving.”
O/B-Juddmonte Farms (Ky.); T-Bill Mott; J-Junior Alvarado.
Scylla leaves them all behind and sails home in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.pic.twitter.com/J0LfUMdTJY
— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) November 1, 2025
Saturday, Del Mar
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP DISTAFF-GI, $1,840,000, Del Mar, 11-1, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m, 1:48.07, ft.
1–SCYLLA, 124, m, 5, by Tapit
1st Dam: Close Hatches (Ch. Older Mare, MGISW,
$2,707,300), by First Defence
2nd Dam: Rising Tornado, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Silver Star (GB), by Zafonic
'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST GRADE I WIN. O/B-Juddmonte Farms
Inc (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $1,040,000.
Lifetime Record: 16-6-5-3, $2,287,795. *Full to Tacitus, MGSW
& MGISP, $4,267,350 and Batten Down, GSW, $713,300.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nitrogen, 121, f, 3, by Medaglia d'Oro
1st Dam: Tiffany Case (SP), by Uncle Mo
2nd Dam: Biblical Point, by Point Given
3rd Dam: Bibical Sense, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
O/B-D. J. Stable, LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $340,000.
3–Regaled, 124, f, 4, by Mohaymen
1st Dam: Ascot Walk, by Daaher
2nd Dam: Millenia (GB), by Unfuwain
3rd Dam: Sand Pigeon (GB), by Lammtarra
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($9,500 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $300,000 4yo
'25 IGDMAY). O-Ribble Farms and Front Page Equestrian LLC;
B-Chris Baccari (KY); T-D. Whitworth Beckman. $180,000.
Margins: 5HF, HF, 1 3/4. Odds: 7.60, 3.70, 30.70.
Also Ran: Clicquot, Dorth Vader, Gun Song, Sarawak Rim (Arg), Dry Powder, Majestic Oops, Alice Verite (Jpn), Seismic Beauty, Gin Gin. Scratched: Scottish Lassie. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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