Staff Writer |
After his father, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, won two Breeders' Cup races on 5 November at Keeneland with Godolphin's Cody's Wish in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (Gr.1) and Juddmonte's Elite Power in the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint (Gr.1), on 11 November, Mott's son Riley won his first race as a trainer with Unifying, who led throughout in the sixth race at Churchill Down.
"Good day, been looking forward to that my entire life, really," said Riley, who watched the race on his cell phone from Hot Springs, Ark., where he has 15 horses readying for the upcoming meet at Oaklawn Park. Riley, 30, said he left a few horses behind in Kentucky to run at Churchill Downs. Kenny McCarthy, Bill Mott's longtime Kentucky-based assistant, saddled his winner on Thursday. "My dad was hopefully as happy today as he was last week," Riley said. "It's nice to do well on that circuit, win my first race at Churchill. Obviously my dad has a lot of history there. The track's been really good to him. It's pretty neat to win my first race there, too."
Before being overtaken by Dale Romans and then Steve Asmussen, his father held the record for most victories by a trainer at Churchill Downs. During the 1984 spring meet at Churchill Downs, the senior Mott set a new mark for the most victories in one meeting with 54. The future Hall of Famer shifted his focus to the New York racing scene while keeping a lesser division in Kentucky. In 1995 and 1996, as well as 2011, he was named the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer. "I'll remain here (in Arkansas) all winter and will return to Kentucky in the spring," he stated.