Mott waited a long time for a Derby win - and then he had to wait a little longer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bill Mott stood in the paddock runway, about 100 yards from the racetrack, staring at the giant screen in the infield, intently watching the replay of the incident on the final turn that led to the riders’ objection into the result of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

Just like the more than 100,000 in attendance at Churchill Downs and millions more around the country, Mott watched and watched and watched for more than 20 minutes as the stewards faced the unenviable decision of whether to disqualify Maximum Security and make his Country House the official winner of the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

“If this was a $10,000 claiming race, the number would come down,” Mott said about 10 minutes after the objection sign had been posted and the stewards continued their deliberation. “It looked like the horse that did win the race switched to the wrong lead and he bore out, and when he did, he forced some horses to come together and there were a couple of jocks that had to stand up and check their horses at a very critical time of the race.”

Several more minutes passed and, taking a page out of the movie "Groundhog Day," the replay of the incident continued to play over and over again on the jumbotron with Mott declining to venture a guess at which way the final decision might go. And the wait went on and on and on.

“I’ve been on both sides of these kinds of decision many times, although this being the Kentucky Derby makes it a little different I guess,” said Mott as he continued to stare at the screen. “I can’t say he bothered my horse that badly, he might have gotten bumped a little. And the track condition may have helped Country House. He handled slop well in Arkansas last time.

“I think Tacitus took a little longer to get untracked, he had a little trouble with the track early on, but I was pleased with the way he ran. He was flying at the end, actually.”

And still the wait continued. . . .

“I know the stewards have a very difficult decision, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. But you can’t drop two horses and say it’s okay,” Mott said, while trying a little harder to convince himself the judges would ultimately rule in his favor. “It may have been the horse who was at fault, not the rider who lost control, but it wasn’t like it happened out of the gate or into the first turn where a horse bothered has a chance to regain his momentum. It’s impossible, at the quarter pole, for a horse to get going again because they’ve already run too hard.”

And then, mercifully, the seemingly interminable wait ended. Mott, stared at the tote board in silent delight, mixed perhaps with a bit of disbelief, as the No. 7, Maximum Security’s number, came down and No. 20, the one carried by his Country House, was placed first. The disqualification, the first ontrack DQ for first place in Derby history, gave the 66 year-old, Hall of Fame trainer his first Kentucky Derby victory.

At that point Mott, showing little emotion, quietly accepted congratulations from those who waited out the agonizing decision with him. He looked around for his owners and quickly made his way down to the track to celebrate the somewhat unexpected and unprecedented victory with the rest of his team.

Mott had started eight horses in the Kentucky Derby prior to saddling Country House and Tacitus on Saturday. The group included Hofburg, who finished a somewhat troubled seventh after getting caught in traffic during the early stages of the race last year.

“It feels pretty darn good,” said Mott, when asked to comment on his first Derby win. “It was an odd way to do it, and we hate to back into these things. It’s a bittersweet feeling. Our horse ran very well, our jockey rode very well, and I’m thrilled to death for all our connections. They are very deserving. We’ll just have to prove ourself in the future.”

But for Bill Mott, the long wait was finally over.