Mott, after solid weekend, targets Jockey Club Gold Cup with Tacitus

ELMONT, N.Y. - After winning two graded stakes on Saturday’s Belmont Park card, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott turned his attention to next Saturday’s program when he will take a swing at winning arguably the most prestigious race of the Belmont fall meet.

In his final workout for Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup, Tacitus worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds over the Belmont main track.

Tacitus began his move one length in front of Will Sing for Win, kept that margin after an opening quarter in 24 seconds, remained a head up at the wire and then galloped-out five furlongs in 59.80 seconds while finishing two lengths in front, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Vesce.

Mott said Tacitus “looked good” and noted the “track was pretty quick.”

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Mott said he put a horse behind Tacitus on Sunday “to have somebody push him along a little bit.”

Tacitus returns to Belmont Park, where he ran his biggest race of the year in winning the Grade 2 Suburban by 8 3/4 lengths. He is coming off a second-place finish to Global Campaign in the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga on Sept. 5.

“Looking back, I don’t think we did anything wrong, I think the horse that beat him just ran a very good race,” Mott said.

As of Sunday, the Jockey Club Gold Cup field was expected to attract 3-year-olds Mystic Guide and Happy Saver and the 5-year-old gelding Prioritize.

Meanwhile, Channel Maker earned a second consecutive 108 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, a race he won by 2 1/4 lengths under Manny Franco. Channel Maker earned the same 108 figure for his 5 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga.

Channel Maker will aim for the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

“He’s run two spectacular races,” Mott said. “Has he got three in a row [in him]? We don’t know. It’s not going to cost us anything to find out. He appears to have come back in good order.”

Channel Maker earned a fees-paid berth into the Turf with his Sword Dancer victory on Aug. 29.

Mott and owner Frank Fletcher will have some decisions to make regarding their 3-year-old filly Frank’s Rockette, who dominated Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap by 7 1/4 lengths, for her fourth consecutive victory.

Mott said both the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint at seven furlongs and the $2 million Sprint at six furlongs will be considered. The Filly and Mare Sprint figures to have a prohibitive favorite in Gamine, the Test and Acorn winner. The Sprint, which usually attracts males, lost its prohibitive favorite when Volatile got hurt.

“Do we run against the boys going six furlongs, or do we go seven-eighths against her?” Mott asked. “That conversation will probably come up because of the difference in the distance.”

A last, albeit less-ambitious option, could be the $125,000 Qatar Fort Springs Stakes, a six-furlong race restricted to 3-year-old fillies on the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup card at Keeneland.