Mott contingent leads New York-based contenders at Breeders’ Cup
At 12h15, on October 31, 2023 • By Santa Anita
The 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships slated for Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, will see a host of New York-based horses compete across the two-day, 14-race event, led by a strong hand for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
Mott, 70, resides in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. where he retains an elite string of trainees from April through November at Saratoga Race Course’s Oklahoma training track. This year, six Mott trainees will represent their conditioner at the Breeders’ Cup.
Leading the charge for Mott is Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Cody’s Wish, who vies to successfully defend his title in the Grade 1 Dirt Mile after taking last year’s edition by a head over Cyberknife. Last year, Mott sent out fellow Breeders’ Cup aspirant and reigning Champion Male Sprinter Elite Power to win the Grade 2 Vosburgh at Belmont at the Big A en route to a victory in the Grade 1 Sprint, but this year, it was Cody’s Wish who took the seven-furlong Vosburgh as a prep for the Dirt Mile, not the Sprint.
Fellow New York-based Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will also be represented by a host of talented trainees.
The Not This Time dark bay enters on a three-race win streak, all in Grade 1 events, that began with a 3 3/4-length triumph in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic on May 6 at Churchill Downs. He followed with another strong victory in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Manhattan on June 10 at Belmont before a summer respite that lasted until his latest score in the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile on October 7 in thrilling fashion, posting a late-running nose score over Master of The Seas.
