Mott now stressing quality over quantity at Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bill Mott used to be obsessed with being leading trainer. While, he’s still obsessed with winning, it’s now all about winning the right races, not the most races.

Mott again demonstrated his prowess for winning the right races this weekend at Saratoga when he captured Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt with Elite Power and then came back 24 hours later to win the Grade 2 Bowling Green with the 9-year-old Channel Maker.

Mott has won six races at the meet, four have been stakes.

“I think now for me it’s more about winning the races like we did yesterday and developing the young horses and trying to find another one that can win those kinds of races,” Mott said Sunday morning, referring to Elite Power’s victory in the Vanderbilt. “There was a point when being leading trainer was major. Winning a training title is not on my list. One, I don’t have the right type of ammunition to do it and two, I’ve been there, done that.”

Mott may not threaten to win a 10th Saratoga trainer’s title, but he has plenty of ammunition to continue his stellar meet. In fact, his barn may be as stacked as it’s ever been.

:: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more.

After he runs the eight-time graded stakes winner War Like Goddess in Thursday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes, Mott will bring out the heavy artillery when he runs Cody’s Wish in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney.

The following Saturday, Mott will go for a second straight Grade 1 Fourstardave with Casa Creed, who already has won the Grade 3 Kelso at this meet.

Elite Power, last year’s sprint champion, ran his winning streak to eight with his Vanderbilt victory. Cody’s Wish has won nine of his last 10 starts, the one loss coming by a neck early in his 4-year-old season.

Nearly three decades ago, Mott trained the legendary Cigar to 16 consecutive victories. When Cigar retired 27 years ago, Mott wondered if he’d ever get another one like him.

“Cody’s Wish, is he approaching that status? Probably,” Mott said. “Our campaigns are a little different now.”

And there’s a different mindset when it comes to running horses too often.

Mott recalled Allen Paulson, the owner of Cigar, as one who always wanted to run, not worrying about getting beat.

“I’m not suggesting that any other particular owners are afraid to get beat. I’m just saying that was him,” Mott said. “He didn’t mind going to Suffolk Downs. There are some people who would say we’re not going to Suffolk Downs with our horse. We went to Suffolk Downs and we went back a second time and it was a lot of fun.”

Mott, who turned 70 Saturday, is having a lot of fun. Elite Power’s victory marked the 18th time in 26 years on which there was racing on his birthday that Mott won a race at Saratoga.

Tina Mott, Bill’s wife of 38 years, said a win on any day is what her husband strives to attain.

:: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.

“If he didn’t win, he’d think why am I doing this?” Tina Mott said. “It’s all about winning and also because he loves the animals. It’s his life, it’s all he does, 24/7.”

Elite Power is 3 for 3 this year, which is particularly gratifying to Mott because he lobbied the owners, Juddmonte Farm, to bring the horse back even after a championship campaign.

“You’re taking some risk when you bring those horses back because you don’t want to win a Breeders’ Cup and then tarnish their record,” Mott said. “I thought he could participate in these kinds of races. You got to cross your fingers and hope they stay sound and nothing happens to them.”

Garrett O’Rourke, of the U.S. Juddmonte operation, calls Mott the ultimate professional.

“He never lets up a minute, he doesn’t relax,” O’Rourke said. “There’s nothing he enjoys doing more. A lot of us were born into the game like and can relate to him in that regard but his passion for what he does and the meticulous way that he does it. . . . When I see him managing, he doesn’t have to manage by growling or barking or doing anything, people just follow him because he sets the pace. There’s only one thing to do to keep up with him that’s try and follow.”

Few have kept up with Mott over the years. He ranks seventh all-time in wins with 5,329 and fourth all-time in purse-money won with $331,912,734. In 1998, he was the youngest trainer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at age 45.

Mott shows no signs of slowing down. He won his first Met Mile this year with Cody’s Wish and hopes he can get his first Whitney on Saturday with him as well. The Travers is also on his bucket list and he’ll have a longshot chance this year with Scotland, winner of the Curlin Stakes.

While Mott says he no longer obsesses about being on top of the trainer standings, he does make sure he keeps a spot annually in the top 10.

“That’s my only goal, to be in the top 10,” Mott said. “I don’t have to be 1,2, 3 but if I’m in the top 10 then I’m in the game.”

Mott is definitely in the game. And playing it as well as anybody ever has.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.