Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said all three of his Breeders’ Cup Classic
horses — Flat Out, To Honor and Serve, and Ron the Greek — traveled well from
the East Coast Monday and went to the track for light exercise Tuesday morning.
Mott has started more than 20,700 horses in a career that started in 1973 and
said he couldn’t recall having three starters in such a high-level stakes race.
“That probably takes the cake,” he said. “It’s pretty unusual to have three
horses of that quality in that type of race. I guess you see sometimes people
have three two-year-olds in a race. Usually you don’t see somebody with that
many older horses in one division.”
Mott won the 2011 Classic with Drosselmeyer and is in position to win the
race in back-to-back years. The only trainer to repeat in the Classic was Jay
Robbins, who won the race with Hall of Famer Tiznow in 2000 and 2001. He would
also become the first trainer to win three Breeders’ Cup Classics, having also
trained the 1995 winner Cigar.
“I’m not trying to do it just because we did it last year,” Mott said. “I
feel no pressure incentive to do that. I just want to do it because we’re in
there. I’ve got three good horses in the Classic and I think any one of them
could win the race on their big day. On their best day they could be factors. I
wouldn’t rule any one of them out.
“And if you really asked me who I would pick, one over the other, I couldn’t
do it. That’s how well they’re doing.”
Flat Out, who was fifth in the 2011 Classic at Churchill Downs, won the Grade
1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on September 29 for the second year in a row. Ron the
Greek has a win over the track in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3.
The son of Full Mandate also won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap this year.
To Honor and Serve was seventh in the Classic last year. He earned a return trip
to the Breeders’ Cup with a win in the Grade 1 Woodward on September 1 at
Saratoga.
An elated Jerry Hollendorfer looked on Tuesday morning as his Classic
prospect Nonios zipped through a four-furlong workout in an official :46 2/5,
the best of 19 on the Santa Anita worktab. The Hall of Fame trainer caught the
three-year-old son of 2003 Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect in :47 2/5 and said
of the move, “It was perfect.”
“He went a little faster than I expected, but I told (jockey) Martin (Pedroza)
to let him go if he was doing things easy. He was doing it that way; pretty much
breezing.”
Hollendorfer broke down his clocking by eighths this way: :12 2/5, :23 3/5,
:35 2/5 on the way to final time.
“He went the last three-eighths in 11 and change each,” he said.
As for the rest of the week’s training, Hollendorfer said, “He’ll walk
tomorrow and then stand in the gate Thursday and maybe Friday.”
Mucho Macho Man, who is scheduled for a flight to California Wednesday
morning, jogged around the shedrow at Belmont Park Tuesday morning.
The Grade 2 Suburban Handicap winner might have company on a scheduled flight
out of Newburgh (New York) Airport at 8:15 a.m (EDT). Wednesday. Trainer Kathy
Ritvo may end up accompanying her multiple-stakes winner.
“So far, I am, unless something else comes up, I’m just going to fly with
him,” Ritvo said. “Hopefully we get out of here at a good time and get out
there.”
Mucho Macho Man was originally slated to fly from New York on Tuesday
morning, but the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy on the Northeast forced a
postponement and made it difficult for his trainer to book a flight for herself.
Ritvo understands that the situation is not ideal.
“We’re missing a day of training, which is probably not great, but he’s doing
so good, I think we’ll be OK,” Ritvo said.
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com