Hovdey: Even at Saratoga, Mott feels tug of Kentucky

Ask Bill Mott an impertinent question and you get what you deserve.

“Where you gonna be on Saturday, Bill? At dreary old Saratoga, trying to win the Woodward again? Or where the real money is at Kentucky Downs, down there on the Tennessee border?”

“I’ve never been there,” Mott replied from Saratoga, of course. “And we had a good meet down there last year. Then again, I’ve never been to Ellis Park, either. And I was leading trainer there one time.”

It has long been established that Mott is perfectly happy maintaining the success of his clients and his personal lifestyle with anchor stables in New York and at Churchill Downs. From those outposts he ranges as far and wide as the stakes schedules dictate, which means a Mott runner is liable to show up just about anywhere good horses gather for serious fortune and fame.

Kentucky Downs is different, though, in so many ways its hard to keep count. The meet comprises just five programs spread over 13 days. The atmosphere is country festival. The sport is entirely on the grass, and the purses are not to be believed, goosed into the stratosphere by the year-round popularity of the Instant Racing machine riches offering a major regional draw.

Mott will be sending out Yoshida in the Woodward, hoping to find out if the colt’s class on grass can be transferred to dirt. At Kentucky Downs, with assistant trainer Kenny McCarthy doing the honors, the Mott stable will have three horses in action on the first day of the meet. Mott has a maiden running for a $130,000 purse, a horse in an allowance race worth $140,000, and one of the eight entered in the $750,000 Tourist Mile.

Beyond the cash, there is a honest tug at Mott’s heartstrings toward the Kentucky Downs program. He trained Tourist, a son of Tiznow, through a successful career climaxed by a victory in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Mile on the Santa Anita turf that was over practically before it began. Tourist’s final clocking of 1:31.71 was the fastest BC Mile in its 33-year history, and it proved once again that when the best Thoroughbreds are asked to run at a serious pace over optimum ground, time melts away.

“I thought I’d need to add wheels for a horse to ever run that fast,” Mott said. “I remember when he won the Fourstardave here, he took a rap in the leg in the race. After we got him back after the race, I said out loud that this horse would probably never make it back to the races. Darned if he didn’t end up winning the Breeders’ Cup.”

Last year, Kentucky Downs management renamed its More Than Ready Mile in Tourist’s honor, and this year an additional $350,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund was added to the $400,000 purse. Clearly, the intention is to someday attract enough talent to earn a graded race ranking, which would put the Tourist in the mix with major pre-Breeders’ Cup Mile events at Woodbine, Keeneland, and Santa Anita.

Tourist was still a work in progress when he won the 2014 running of the More Than Ready before he went on to Breeders’ Cup fame and fortune, as well as a place in the WinStar stallion barn. On Saturday Mott will be trying to win the Tourist with Krampus, a 4-year-old gelded son of Shakespeare bred and owned by William Schettine who has won 4 of 8 starts in mostly modest company, all on grass.

“He’s useful,” Mott said. “Runs hard, though he’s never been proven in stakes company. I guess his speed figures are good enough.”

The best line Krampus has to offer players would be his second to Mr Cub in an allowance event last April at Keeneland, the same Mr Cub who came right back to win the Opening Verse and finish a close third in the Grade 2 Wise Dan to Mr. Misunderstood. Both Mr Cub and Mr. Misunderstood are in the Tourist field, along with graded stakes winners Camelot Kitten and Bound for Nowhere.

“I had another spot picked out for our horse that probably made more sense,” Mott said. “But when they told me they had only five for $750,000, and they gave me the names of the horses, I figured heck, we’ve got to take a shot.”

That’s pretty much the universal philosophy of owners and trainer when Kentucky Downs comes along. There are so many entries that chances of simply getting into one of the overnight races are as good as winning the lottery. And while a race like the Tourist might come up a little light on quality – primarily because it lacks a grade – the tricky Kentucky Downs course is demanding and requires horse and rider to be on their best form.

“There’s still a chance I might show up there for the tail-end of the meet,” Mott said. “We’ve got a few more we’re hoping to run.

“I wouldn’t even be bothered if we were down there some time and got delayed on the return. Nashville is just down the road, and I kind of like to walk down that street with all those honkytonk bars, having a beer and listening to the music.”

Instead, he’s stuck at Saratoga.