Favorite Trick

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- One day after the Kentucky Derby turned as fuzzy as the picture on an old television, Bill Mott provided some clarity by saying that Favorite Trick would be pointed toward the big race May 2 at Churchill Downs.The morning after Favorite Trick finished third in the Arkansas Derby -- losing for the first time in 10 races -- Mott, his trainer, said the colt seemed no worse for wear. Before the sun had even risen, Favorite Trick and five other Mott horses were loaded onto a van at Oaklawn Park for the trip to Louisville.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- He's being compared to Easy Goer, Affirmed and Secretariat. Remember this name: More Than Ready. The 2-year-old colt has won his first five races, broken a track record in the process and blasted to the top of everyone's list of prospective Kentucky Derby and Preakness favorites for 2000. He has even been mentioned as a candidate for 1999 Horse of the Year. More Than Ready, a Southern Halo colt out of the Woodman mare Woodman's Girl, races Saturday in the Grade I $200,000 Hopeful Stakes here at Saratoga.

Favorite Trick, undefeated as a 2-year-old last year and the winter book favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, now will be trained by Bill Mott, a top conditioner who trained two-time Horse of the Year Cigar.Favorite Trick, who went 8-for-8 in 1997, including a victory in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile, had been trained by Pat Byrne. But Byrne announced Dec. 31 that he would become the private trainer for Frank Stronach, who owns 40 horses. Stronach tried to buy a piece of Favorite Trick, who is owned by Joseph LaCombe and Walmac Farm, but negotiations failed and Mott was assigned Favorite Trick on Tuesday.

The headline in the weekly magazine Thoroughbred Times read: "Plans set for Cigar's retirement." The response from London: "Oh, no, they're not."Ever since reporting Nov. 22 that Cigar was likely headed to the Kentucky Horse Park, a tourist attraction near Lexington, Ky., I have telephoned London weekly, seeking confirmation of plans for the Maryland-bred two-time Horse of the Year. Spokesmen there for Assicurazioni Generali SpA have said repeatedly that a plan to move Cigar to the Kentucky Horse Park awaits final approval from Generali executives.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- In his first race in four months, and first wearing the crown of Horse of the Year, Favorite Trick drove through horses in the stretch to win the Swale Stakes yesterday at Gulfstream Park.The victory in the seven-furlong Swale extended Favorite Trick's win streak to nine -- he has never lost -- and it answered the question of how the horse has fared under his new trainer, Bill Mott. But it revealed little about the chances of this son of a sprinter to win, or even reach, the country's most prestigious race, the Kentucky Derby.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. -- In a flat vastness of cattle, scrub palms and orange groves, a methodical trainer prepares the reigning ,, Horse of the Year for his toughest campaign.Bill Mott, who trained two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, says Favorite Trick is ready for his 3-year-old season, beginning tomorrow with the $100,000 Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park.Mott says this inside his tiny office 90 miles north of Gulfstream. The racetrack is between Fort Lauderdale and Miami amid condominiums and Cadillacs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It was the stumble heard 'round the world.As Favorite Trick slowed after his six-furlong training work yesterday for the Kentucky Derby, he stumbled and nearly fell. Onlookers held their breath as the reigning Horse of the Year quickly regained his footing and trotted along the backstretch.His trainer, Bill Mott, was on his pony on the track but didn't see the misstep. He followed Favorite Trick back to his barn and watched intently as the horse walked around the shedrow.

The pace should be fast, the track conditions uncertain and this is what else I think I know about the 124th running of the world's most intriguing race.Favorite Trick, last year's Horse of the Year, seems a risky proposition at the Derby distance. His best asset however, is trainer Billy Mott, a distance specialist.Still, Favorite Trick probably will need a major rainstorm to stay in the race. In 1997, his most impressive performance was a smashing, 3 1/2 -length win in the rain-soaked Saratoga Special.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- Coronado's Quest stands poised again to challenge the top 3-year-olds in the East. On Saturday, the colt owned by Stuart S. Janney III will meet familiar rivals in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.But the star of the day might be unveiled about four hours earlier.Favorite Trick, the 1997 Horse of the Year, will make his 1998 debut on the Florida Derby undercard in the Swale Stakes, a seven-furlong race worth $100,000. Bill Mott, the colt's trainer, said the Swale and then probably the 1 1/8 -mile Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on April 11 at Keeneland will be Favorite Trick's only auditions for the grand ball, the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

In major Kentucky Derby preps last weekend in Florida,Louisiana and California, horses such as Lil's Lad, Cape Town, Comic Strip, Artax and Real Quiet flashed strong Derby credentials. But in a $100,000 race on the undercard of the $750,000 Florida Derby, a horse many had dismissed as a Derby contender earned gushing accolades.Favorite Trick, 1997 Horse of the Year as a 2-year-old, made his 1998 debut under new trainer Bill Mott in the Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Favorite Trick won, remaining unbeaten after nine starts.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When Bill Mott welcomed Favorite Trick into his barn at the beginning of the year, well-wishers offered congratulations.4 "Sure you don't mean condolences?" Mott replied.He realized that taking over the training of a horse who'd won all eight races -- a horse who'd be named 1997 Horse of the Year -- meant one thing: Horses eventually get beat, and when that happened to Favorite Trick, Mott would be remembered as the trainer of record.Sure enough, Favorite Trick got beat in his second start for Mott, finishing third in the Arkansas Derby.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- They should have sent a bus from Maryland with a cheering section for Travers day.Stuart S. Janney III, who lives in Butler, is majority owner of Coronado's Quest. The 3-year-old colt going for five straight wins will vie for favoritism with archrival Victory Gallop in tomorrow's $750,000 Travers Stakes at Saratoga.Yesterday, Coronado's Quest drew the No. 3 post position in a field of eight entered in one of the nation's most prestigious races -- the Grade I Travers, the country's oldest major stakes for 3-year-olds.

The rain was heavy as Sonny Hine kept dry yesterday under the shedrow of the stakes barn at Pimlico. Hine and his wife, Carolyn, had just arrived after a difficultdrive from New York, and their champion Skip Away, riding in a large horse van, was somewhere behind them."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When trainer Bob Baffert accepted the trophy last year for Silver Charm's thrilling victory in the Kentucky Derby, he said on national TV: "This is for Mike Pegram."His friend Pegram stood in the background, a grin plastered across his face.Yesterday, Pegram leaped from the shadows into the wondrous glow of the winner's circle when his horse Real Quiet, nicknamed "The Fish," won the 124th Kentucky Derby on a picture-perfect spring day here at Churchill Downs.The festive crowd of 143,215, many sipping mint juleps, was the third largest in Derby history.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- After teasing his supporters with splendid workouts and a gutsy performance in his final Kentucky Derby prep, Favorite Trick finally ran to his breeding yesterday in the Kentucky Derby.The 1997 Horse of the Year -- the first 2-year-old Horse of the Year since Secretariat -- Favorite Trick tracked the leaders into the far turn and then flattened out in the stretch. He finished a distant eighth in the 15-horse field."He had position to win the race," said his trainer, Bill Mott.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A number of factors are in play today at the Kentucky Derby. It's up to you to decide which might matter most when the starting gate opens at Churchill Downs.There's the "too smart for our own good" factor involving Favorite Trick, the reigning Horse of the Year and winner of nine of 10 starts, including six graded stakes.Few Derby horses in recent memory have had better credentials. As well, Trick's jockey, Pat Day, is the winningest rider in Churchill Downs history, and his trainer, Bill Mott, was just elected to racing's Hall of Fame.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A walnut podium stands at one end of the Churchill Downs press box, where, traditionally, the owner, trainer and jockey of the winning Kentucky Derby horse field questions about what is perhaps their single greatest achievement.Yesterday, Bill Mott stood at the podium moments after the announcement that he had been selected for induction into the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. At 44, Mott is the youngest trainer ever chosen for the honor.He has won Breeders' Cup races, Eclipse Awards and the Dubai World Cup. He trained Cigar.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- When Bill Mott welcomed Favorite Trick into his barn at the beginning of the year, well-wishers offered congratulations.4 "Sure you don't mean condolences?" Mott replied.He realized that taking over the training of a horse who'd won all eight races -- a horse who'd be named 1997 Horse of the Year -- meant one thing: Horses eventually get beat, and when that happened to Favorite Trick, Mott would be remembered as the trainer of record.Sure enough, Favorite Trick got beat in his second start for Mott, finishing third in the Arkansas Derby.

The pace should be fast, the track conditions uncertain and this is what else I think I know about the 124th running of the world's most intriguing race.Favorite Trick, last year's Horse of the Year, seems a risky proposition at the Derby distance. His best asset however, is trainer Billy Mott, a distance specialist.Still, Favorite Trick probably will need a major rainstorm to stay in the race. In 1997, his most impressive performance was a smashing, 3 1/2 -length win in the rain-soaked Saratoga Special.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As the sun and breeze dried out soggy Louisville, a record crowd of 94,415 crowded into Churchill Downs yesterday for Kentucky Oaks Day. About 50,000 more are expected today for the Kentucky Derby.Keeper Hill, the tepid 3-1 favorite, won the Grade I $605,500 1 1/8 -mile Oaks -- the 3-year-old filly counterpart to the Derby -- with a long rally from ninth place. Trained by Bobby Frankel and ridden by David Flores, Keeper Hill edged Banshee Breeze by a neck. Keeper Hill returned $8.60 to win. The exacta paid $51.Team Valor's Really Polish finished a game third in the 13-filly field despite her 29-1 odds and a rough break.