Bill Mott

Saturday's Racing Insight: Flightline's Lil Sis Debuts At Tampa

4th-TAM, $53K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f , 2:13 p.m. ET. FLIGHT OF FANCY (Into Mischief) is set for her unveiling under the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Summer Wind Equine bred the filly, who is a half-sister to Horse of the Year Flightline (Tapit). Both are out of GSW Feathered (Indian Charlie). This dam was acquired by Jane Lyon for $2.35 million at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale while Good On Paper (War Front) was in-utero. Flight of Fancy's third dam is MGISW Finder's Fee (Storm Cat)....

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Justify's Grand Job Remains Undefeated in U.S. with Emphatic Churchill Win

7th-Churchill Downs, $123,355, Alw, 12-1, (NW1X), 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 1:34.18, ft, 8 1/4 lengths. GRAND JOB (f, 3, Justify--Sure Route {GB} {MSP, $201,163}, by Ishiguru), runner up in three of four starts in Ireland last season, marked her U.S. debut with an easy six-length win going seven-eighths at the Big A Oct. 31. The well-supported 1-2 favorite adding another furlong, the bay went to the front and extended her advantage throughout, winning by 8 1/4 lengths over Viable (Curlin). The winner is a half-sister to Divine Image (Scat Daddy), Hwt.-UAE-...

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Thursday Insights: Tommy Town Homebred Gets Started at Aqueduct

1st-AQU, $90k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, post time: 12:10 p.m. ET KEEPTHEDREAMALIVE (Into Mischief) makes her first trip to the races for owner/breeder Tommy Town Thoroughbreds and trainer Bill Mott. Tommy Town acquired dam It Tiz Well (Tiznow) for $230,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale and campaigned her with Jerry Hollendorfer to five wins from 10 starts, including a two-length upset of eventual champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road) in the 2017 GI Cotillion Stakes. The homebred outworked 142 other horses when breezing a half-mile in :48 1/5 (17/159) over...

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Integration Makes Deadline At Big A With 'Wins Red Smith'

Integration's well-timed throttle management in the more than capable hands of jockey Flavien Prat worked to perfection as the 4-year-old swooped in late to take the featured GII Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday afternoon. After a stellar start to his career in 2023, which saw the $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale buy graduate on debut by 6 1/2 lengths over the turf at Colonial Downs, then score in the GIII Virginia Derby and the GII Hill Prince Stakes at the Big A, Integration hit the board in the...

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Tux A Flashy Debut Winner For LNJ Foxwoods At Aqueduct

1st-Aqueduct, $87,300, Msw, 11-9, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:17.39, ft, 3 1/2 lengths. TUX (c, 2, Tapit--Fancy Dress Party {GSW, $267,405}, by Munnings), a first-time starter in a well-met field of homebred maidens, broke in stride from the outside draw and moved up to stalk the pace of the only experienced runner in the field, Math Tutor (Algorithms). The top four stayed bunched together in pairs of two up the backstretch past the half in :46.89 and for a moment, it looked as though Math Tutor might break loose at the...

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Breeders' Cup Follow-Ups: Sierra Leone Well, Future Plans TBA

GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) has come out of the marquee race in good order, according to Chad Brown, and will return to Kentucky Monday morning. "Everything's all good," said assistant trainer Baldo Hernandez Sunday morning after showing the horse to the media. "He will ship tomorrow to Kentucky and maybe Florida after that. I don't know for sure, it's up to the boss." The connections are expected to announce future plans for the colt soon. Sean Flanagan of Flanagan Racing confirmed that...

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Justify's Grand Job Dominant In North American Debut

4th-Belmont The Big A, $90,000, Msw, 10-31, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:22.05, ft, 6 lengths. GRAND JOB (f, 3, Justify--Sure Route {GB} {MSP, $201,163}, by Ishiguru) made her first North American start Thursday and certainly seemed to take to the Aqueduct main track after four prior starts in Ireland on both grass and Tapeta as a juvenile. Off the 13-month layoff and racing with Lasix for the first time, the 5-2 second choice got away quickly and led narrowly inside of No Tricks (Into Mischief). Shaking off that pressure into the...

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Saratoga: The Fall Place to Be

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If the 2024 racing season at Saratoga Race Course wrapped up Labor Day weekend, why are so many of the best horsemen in the country still sticking around? Overlooking the famed Oklahoma Training Track, and, at the moment, enveloped in bright fall foliage, the former home to 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) seems like a good place to start. "What did we win, five the last two years? That's not bad," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said with a smile standing outside...

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City of Troy Leads Ballydoyle Ship-Ins to Del Mar, Domestic Runners Go Through Paces

Multiple Group 1 winner 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was the first horse into the quarantine barn from the 11-horse Saturday evening ship-in for Ballydoyle at Del Mar, as per a Breeders' Cup release, which references information from the International Racing Bureau. The Aidan O'Brien-trained star is scheduled to make a first appearance on track Tuesday morning. Many of the European horses used the weighing scale in the quarantine barn and connections are reporting positive prognoses for their runners. The arrivals will remain in quarantine until Monday afternoon...

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Friday Insights: Half-Sister To 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose Makes First Start At Aqueduct

6th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 3:16 p.m. ET. DIVINE ROSE (Good Magic) has reached her unveiling under the watchful eye of trainer Cherie DeVaux. The John Gunther and Eurowest homebred is a half-sister to GI Central Bank Ashland Stakes heroine and 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose (Into Mischief). Both are out of unraced Wildwood Rose (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who herself is a half-sister to GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song)--the dam of 'TDN Rising Star' and current sire Annapolis (War Front). Also set for a...

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Sophomore Sprinters Enjoy Spotlight at Keeneland Saturday

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Knightsbridge (Nyquist) will square off with GI Woody Stephens Stakes winner Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in a deep renewal of the GIII Perryville Stakes going seven furlongs at Keeneland Saturday. 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner), last seen finishing third as the favorite in the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, is expected to scratch and instead make his sophomore debut in the lidlifter at the Big A Saturday. Godolphin homebred Knightsbridge posted a double-digit victory going seven furlongs on debut at Churchill Downs Nov....

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With Jockey Club Gold Cup Disappointment in Rear View, Arthur's Ride 'Training with Good Energy' for Classic

Arthur's Ride (Tapit), a disappointing fifth in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes Sept. 1 after posting one of the more impressive performances of the year in the GI Whitney Stakes Aug. 3, remains on target for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 2. The stunning gray breezed five furlongs in 1:02.87 (1/2) for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track over a surface labeled as "good" on a rainy Sunday morning Oct. 13, his fourth workout since the Jockey Club Gold...

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