Mott arrives earlier than usual with Breeders' Cup prospects

ARCADIA, California – Bill Mott was dead lame Sunday morning, but the two horses he worked for the Breeders’ Cup, Carina Mia and Tourist, looked much better.

Tourist, who will be making his third Breeders’ Cup Mile start, worked a half-mile on dirt in 47.89 seconds, out five furlongs in 1:00.56, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Carina Mia, who figures to be among the favorites in the Filly and Mare Sprint, went the same distance in 47.91, out five furlongs in 1:00.74.

“Both horses looked really good, he equally to what she did,” Mott said. “I was very pleased.”

Mott was schooling a horse in the gate here Saturday morning when the animal crashed into him, injuring his knee. “It’s nothing serious,” Mott said. “I did the examination myself.”

That Mott is here at all this far in advance of the Breeders’ Cup races – for which he also has Celestine (Turf Sprint), and Good Samaritan (Juvenile Turf) – represents a departure from his recent Breeders’ Cup ventures to Southern California. Typically, Mott would be shipping his East Coast-based stock after giving them final workouts back home, but these horses already have settled in and acclimated after arriving much earlier than Mott’s standard shipping schedule.

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“We were in Saratoga and I had two of the horses up there [Good Samaritan and Carina Mia], and I was looking at the weather, and I thought, you know, there’s a plane leaving from Newburgh, it’s so convenient, just an hour and a half south, so we just got on the plane there, and it made the traveling quite easy,” Mott said. “The other two horses were at Keeneland, and we just picked them up on the way. I wanted to try it a little different, coming earlier, and see what happens.”

Actually, Mott has tried this before. In 1987 he came to Hollywood Park three weeks out with his first Breeders’ Cup starters, including Theatrical, who went on to win the Turf.

“We came early with him because he was a bad shipper,” said Mott.

Mott also sent his horses early to Hollywood in 1997 and had one of his best Breeders’ Cups. Ajina won the Distaff and “everything I ran that year ran well,” Mott said.

Mott, fourth in Breeders’ Cup trainer earnings with just less than $17.1 million, and tied for fourth with nine wins, quietly is back with a solid quartet this year. Celestine, farther off the pace than expected, was third last out in the First Lady at Keeneland, should appreciate the firm turf here, and ran her best race around one turn at Belmont in the Just a Game earlier this year. Like Celestine, Carina Mia is making a route-to-sprint move after finishing second to Songbird in the Cotillion at Parx Racing, and she probably got the wrong trip pressing the pace (Mott thinks she’s best stalking and pouncing) in her most recent sprint try, the Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga.

Tourist was eliminated on the first turn when he raced in the 2014 BC Mile at Santa Anita, and was a good second to Midnight Storm here in the June 4 Shoemaker Mile, albeit over the since-replaced turf course.

“He’s got to have the perfect trip, but he’s capable,” Mott said.

And Good Samaritan, European shippers or not, looks like the horse to beat in the Juvenile Turf. He won his debut, a turf route at Saratoga, despite not having been cranked for the race, Mott said, and has continued blossoming since his second and most recent start, a win Sept. 18 at Woodbine in the Summer Stakes. Mott said Good Samaritan “galloped like a monster” on dirt Sunday morning and that the colt has changed for the better preparing for the Juvenile Turf.

“He’s put on weight, and physically he’s done quite well. He’s come the right direction. It seems like he’s got a little more substance to him,” said Mott, who then limped off to check on his horses.