On Sunday morning, all was well at Bill Mott’s barn, at least for
the horses.
“Everybody
came back good,” the Hall of Fame trainer said outside his barn. “I
feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.
“Obviously,
there’s a lot of excitement on a day like that,” added Mott, who
saddled Royal Delta to victory in
the Grade 1 Beldame and Flat Out
to win the Grade 1 TVG Jockey Club Gold Cup. “You’ve got a number
of big runners and some it worked out well, and others it didn’t. The
good thing is that everybody did come back good, and it looks like we have
another chance, another day.”
All four of
Mott’s “Super Saturday” horses will be pointed to the
Breeders’ Cup, with To Honor and Serve
(fourth in the Grade 2 Kelso) and Ron the Greek
(sixth in the Gold Cup) joining Flat Out in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup
Classic on November 3 and Royal Delta looking to defend her title in the $2
million Ladies’ Classic on November 2.
Mott, who also won
last year’s Classic with Drosselmeyer, has never started three horses in
the 1 ¼-mile race.
“It’s
hard enough to get one,” he said.
Declaring himself
impressed by Royal Delta’s easy 9 ½-length victory, Mott characterized
Flat Out’s win as “very professional” and was hopeful Ron the
Greek could rebound over a Santa Anita track he likes.
“It
didn’t surprise me whatsoever,” he said of Flat Out, who headed a
game Stay Thirsty in the Gold Cup. “I thought he was sitting on a race
that I thought the outcome could be that. I suppose I was little surprised in Ron
the Greek, that he didn’t fire. Usually, he’s been so consistent
for us, but he seemed to not really like the racetrack that much. That’s
the only thing we can figure out right now.”
Despite To Honor
and Serve’s poor performance, the Grade 1 Woodward winner is still headed
to Santa Anita.
“He really
didn’t try at all,” said Mott. “He broke a little sluggish,
got bumped a little leaving the gate; he just put in a dull effort. He’s
coming off a very big effort in Saratoga
… maybe it just took a little more out of him than what we could see. He
was eating well, feeling good, worked well. But he didn’t have it in the
race yesterday.
“The only
good thing is, I believe that – win, lose, or draw – it was the
best way to get him to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.”
Mott plans to ship
his horses the Sunday or Monday before the Breeders’ Cup. He went out
early in 1987 with Theatrical, the horse that brought him his first
Breeders’ Cup win, in the Turf at Hollywood Park, but that was, he said,
because of Theatrical’s personality.
“It was just
to get him settled in and make him feel at home,” Mott explained.
“These horses are all very professional. Ron [the Greek] could probably
fly the plane out there.”