How's the saying go? "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"? Well, when it comes to Bill Mott, it could be "Fool me 317 times, shame for my bankroll."
The Racing Hall of Fame trainer got me again Saturday when Art Collector, a horse who had keyed one of my biggest scores ever but whom I had since given up on, won the Pegasus World Cup (G1) last week at Gulfstream Park and paid $33.
Mott and jockey Junior Alvarado reunite for another featured race at Gulfstream Park, the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) on Saturday for 3-year-old males with Kentucky Derby aspirations. The pair will race Frank Fletcher's Rocket Can in the season debut for the Into Mischief colt.
Rocket Can was lousy in two sprints last summer at Saratoga but found his flair when stretching out at Churchill Downs, breaking his maiden in the slop from post 10 before chasing gate-to-wire winner and eventual Lecomte (G3) third-place finisher Confidence in his first start against winners.
I made Rocket Can the most likely winner of the Holy Bull off his fast routes and the time between races. Cyclone Mischief has the most impressive single race of this group, but that was "only" four weeks ago, and it was a big effort relative to what he (another son of Into Mischief) had done previously. Dale Romans trains for a partnership of co-breeder Castleton Lyons and the Albaugh Family Stable.
