Bill Mott

DEL MAR, CA - With no sign of the sun under a dense cloud cover at daybreak, champion Essential Quality (Tapit) set the stage for this weekend's 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships jogging the wrong way along the outer rail on a cool and comfortable Tuesday morning at Del Mar. Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner is the second choice on the morning-line at 3-1 for Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic trailing only his Brad Cox-trained stablemate Knicks Go (Paynter) at 5-2. More on the latter gray in a...

MGSW Modernist (Uncle Mo--Symbolic Gesture, by Bernardini) has been retired and will begin his new career as a stallion in 2022 at Darby Dan Farm in a deal brokered by Matt Bowling. He will stand for a fee of $10,000 S&N. "We are excited to offer Modernist to breeders," said Ryan Norton, stallion director at Darby Dan Farm. "He is a tremendously good-looking horse with a mind to match and hails from a strong and accomplished female family." A homebred for Martin and Pam Wygod trained by Bill Mott, Modernist...

7th-Belmont, $90,000, Msw, 10-22, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:47.36, ft, 7 3/4 lengths. NOSTALGIC (f, 2, Medaglia d'Oro--Been Here Before {SP}, by Tapit), scratched out of an intended unveiling here about a month ago, showed three easy breezes in the interim and was let go at 9-1 as her second-time-starting stablemate Handbelle (Tapit) took the most tote attention. The Godolphin homebred showed little early foot and sat far back in second last down the backside through splits of :24.02 and :48.50. She sliced through a seam and began to inch...

Several Breeders' Cup-bound horses breezed in New York Friday at both Belmont and Saratoga in preparation for the World Championships Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar. A few of those hailed from the Todd Pletcher barn, including GII Vosburgh S. hero Following Sea (Runhappy), who covered a half-mile in :49.73 on the Belmont training track. "I liked it," Pletcher said of the breeze. "It seemed like he bounced out of the Vosburgh very well. It was a very easy breeze for him this morning. We weren't looking to do a whole...

A wide-open field of 13 sophomore filly sprinters will line up for Saturday's GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland. 'TDN Rising Star' Souper Sensational (Curlin) enters in good form in her last three starts since receiving a freshening. A powerful winner of Belmont's GIII Victory Ride S. July 10, the Live Oak colorbearer followed with a second-place finish behind likely GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint second choice Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot) in the GI Longines Test S. Aug. 7 and repeated that same position behind the streaking...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY QUALITY ROAD COLT DEBUTS IN NY 3rd-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 1:41 p.m. Shug McGaughey unveils an expensive son of Quality Road here in CITIZEN MACK. A $950,000 KEESEP purchase by Don & Donna Adam's Courtlandt Farm, the dark bay is the first foal out of Rutile (Medaglia d'Oro), who is a daughter of MSW Set Them Free (Stop the Music). That blue hen mare is also responsible for GI Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo (Holy Bull), MGISW Tiago (Pleasant Tap); GSW & MGISP Stanwyck...

In a summer full of impressive and promising performances in allowance races at Saratoga, it was the Sept. 4 run of a total no-name who could've been had by anyone in the sport for just $10,000 months earlier that stood out the most on the speed-figure scale. And Saturday, modestly-bred Baby Yoda (Prospective) will try to back that monster effort up while making his stakes debut against four rivals in Belmont's GII Vosburgh S., a Win and You're In qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Debuting for owner Gerald...

4th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, post time: 2:20 p.m. ET Vegso Racing Stable homebred CELESTIAL (Quality Road), a full-sister to champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Caledonia Road, kicks off her career for Hall of Famer Bill Mott. She RNA'd for $700,000 as a FTKSEL yearling last year and is drawn widest of all in post nine. Magnier, Tabor, Smith and Westerberg's Sweet as Pie (Tapit), a $490,000 FTKSEL yearling produced by a full-sister to GISW Streaming (Smart Strike), debuts for Hall of Famer...

The controlling speed of Saturday's GI Woodward S. on paper, Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini) made best use of his best asset and took them gate-to-wire to earn an overdue Grade I victory. Favored Maxfield (Street Sense) completed the exacta, while Dr Post (Quality Road) flashed home from the tail to be third. Looking to remain perfect in three starts since an amicable trainer switch from Tommy Drury to Bill Mott, Art Collector bounced beautifully from gate three and was soon in front for Luis Saez, as 64-1 Mo Gotcha...

With three graded wins on his resume so far this year, the highly regarded Maxfield (Street Sense) will take on five rivals in Saturday's GI Woodward S., which returns to Belmont Park for the first time since 2005. The 2021 GIII Mineshaft S., GII Alysheba S. and GII Stephen Foster S. hero was second-best behind Knicks Go (Paynter) in the GI Whitney S. at Saratoga last time Aug. 7. The 7-5 morning-line favorite, winner of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at two, adds blinkers here. "For his stallion career and...

This is the story of Baby Yoda (Prospective): Bought shortly after he broke his maiden for $10,000 at Pimlico, he ran a 114 Beyer figure in a Saratoga allowance race, tying him for the fastest number on the year, and will now be sent into a graded prep for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. It sounds impossible. But it's not. "It's crazy," said Baby Yoda's co-owner Adam Wachtel. "It's hard to rationalize or accept. It's highly unusual to see something like this. He ran for $10,000 nine weeks ago and...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--After accepting his fourth H. Allen Jerkens training title late Monday afternoon, Chad Brown spoke to a common theme on the final day of a joyous season following the COVID-19 summer without fans at Saratoga Race Course "Happy to have everybody back at the meet. That was the big thing," Brown said. "The most rewarding part of the meet was having everybody back. Last year, win or lose, it just wasn't any fun. I can speak for me and a lot of people around me that it just...