Breeders' Cup Classic: Mott does not want Tacitus on the lead again
Tacitus often has promised more than he has delivered, but he’ll try to make up for all that Saturday when he starts, unusually for him, as a longshot in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
Tacitus has won just one of his last 10 starts, and has been favored in six of his last nine races, including his last start, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which he was third as the 3-5 favorite.
“His last race was disappointing,” Mott said during a conference call Monday. “Wound up on the lead, because someone had to be.”
In the Classic, “he should have a target. Have to hope he’s good enough to compete with the best of them,” Mott said.
Tacitus, 4, has won four times in 14 starts. His three stakes wins have been in the Tampa Bay Derby, Wood Memorial, and Suburban, all Grade 2 races.
Mott has won the Classic twice, with Cigar in 1995 and Drosselmeyer in 2011.