Bill Mott

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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Scythian Upsets A Wild Miss Grillo To Earn Breeders' Cup Bid

Lawrence Goichman's homebred Scythian inherited the lead when pacesetting Marvelous Madison (Caravaggio)--also owned and bred by Goichman--bolted on the far turn approaching the stretch and strode home unchallenged to the wire in the GIII Miss Grillo Stakes at Aqueduct Sunday. The victory gave freshman sire Tiz the Law his second graded winner pf the weekend and Scythian a fees-paid berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Marvelous Madison, breaking from the far outside in the field of 12, rushed up and over to take the early lead, while...

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Second Chances: 'He Closed Extremely Well and Showed the Kind of Talent and Heart We All Thought He Had.' – Constitution Colt Executive Catches Eye with Rallying Third on Debut

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. "Executive finished with a flourish to get third." Those were the words of Saratoga track announcer Frank Mirahmadi--with an emphasis on flourish--as Executive (c, 2, Constitution--Low Pressure Zone, by Curlin) flew home to round out the trifecta going 1 1/16 miles over the lawn on debut at the Spa Aug. 31. Overlooked at 16-1 in his unveiling for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Executive lunged at...

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Triple Threat Dies In Paddock Accident

National Hunt stallion Triple Threat (Fr) sustained a mortal injury in his paddock, Capital Stud announced on Wednesday. The 14-year-old son of Monsun (Ger) was standing his first season at the stud for a private fee. "The whole Capital Stud team is devastated by the news," said the stud's Ger O'Neill. "He was very popular in his first season here and we were looking forward to covering many more mares with him in future, but sadly it wasn't to be. "However, we look forward to seeing his first Irish foals...

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