Columnist Ralph Siraco: Trainer Mott, others join horse-racing hall today

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Aug. 10, 1998 | 11:14 a.m.

RALPH SIRACO is turf editor of the Sun. His column appears Mondays and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Friday.

WHEN TRAINER Bill Mott steps from the podium at the Museum of Racing in Saratoga Spring, N.Y., today, it will cap off another memorable weekend for the 45-year-old horse trainer from South Dakota.

Mott joins retired jockey Jacinto Vasquez, thoroughbreds Bayakoa, Riva Ridge and Fort Marcy along with Ansel Williamson -- a former slave who trained Aristides, the very first winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1775 -- as this year's inductees into the sport's Hall of Fame.

Thoroughbred racing's highest honor will come just a day after Favorite Trick's gutty winning performance in the Jim Dandy. The defending Horse of the Year won the Travers Stakes stepping stone tuned to the minute by Mott, and is the latest testament to the conditioner's deserving place in the Hall.

While the Bafferts, Lukas' and Zitos fill the pages during the Spring Classics, the Kentucky Derby may be the only major trophy left in the fragile Sport of Kings that Mott has yet to achieve. But, we are certain there is a Derby in Louisville on the first Saturday in May somewhere in the future with Mott's name on it.

It has been a long journey from the small town of Mobridge to Saratoga and a quarter century since a fifteen-year-old kid saddled his first winner with a $320 mare named My Assets and turned those assets into a South Dakota Futurity victory.

As the youngest trainer ever to enter the Hall of Fame, and elected in his first year of eligibility, Mott is a sure bet to reflect on some poignant moments during his travels through the bush tracks of South Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska. Making his mark through the Mid-West at Ak-Sar-Ben, Hazel Park and Detroit as the top gun of that region's stable for the powerful Hall of Famer Jack Van Berg, Mott branched out on his own in 1978.

Soon after the great Spring Classic rivalry of Affirmed-Alydar, Mott began his assault of the fall meet at Churchill Downs. During the next eight years, he won nine training titles under the famed twin spires and is the all-time leading trainer of America's most famous race track.

Having conquered Churchill Downs, Mott ventured to the Big Apple to meet fate. Fate, they say, is preparation meeting opportunity -- or in some circles defined as pure LUCK -- and any accomplished person will attest, no matter how talented or gifted they may be, that fate leads to their ultimate success.

In 1986, Mott became private trainer for Bert and Diana Firestone, and it was during that time in New York the connection was made with Allen Paulson's powerful Brookside Farm.

Paulson bought half-interest in a horse named Theatrical from the Firestones. After finishing second to Manila in the 1986 Breeders' Cup Turf, Mott returned Theatrical for a victory in the same event one year later at Hollywood Park.

In 1992, Mott saddled Fraise to a Breeders' Cup Turf victory for Paulson's wife Madeleine. After winning several other major races for the stable, Mott received a four-year-old son of Paulson's Palace Music who was fresh off surgery to remove chips in his knees. Being bred for the grass, Mott ran the colt four times through the summer and fall of 1994 with no success. Then in late October the trainer switched his also-ran runner back to the dirt for the first time since the spring of his three-year-old season. The colt romped by eight lengths.

That was the first of 16 straight wins. The colt's name was Cigar, and the rest was racing history.

The NYRA Mile, Gulfstream Park Handicap, Pimlico Special, two MassCaps, a Hollywood Gold Cup and the inaugural Dubai World Cup made Cigar a national hero. Cigar had become the goodwill ambassador of racing and struck the media spotlight on his soft-spoken mild-mannered trainer. Uncomfortable at times, Mott handled the media attention with his down-home dry sense of humor and the mounting pressures of the consecutive win streak with grace.

When the inevitable came at Del Mar in 1996, Mott would accept defeat with as much class as Cigar's attempt at a new record fell in the Pacific Classic to Dare and Go. Mott Waxed philosophical with praise for his champion colt and congratulated the victors while always down-playing his flawless guidance of an American equine treasure.

Cigar retired as a two-time Horse of the Year and with an all-time record earnings mark of $9,999,815.

A pair of Eclipse Awards decorate Mott's mantle as recognition of excellence in his field, but, we will have to indulge the humble conditioner if he lights up a stoggie in celebration to honor his star pupil.

MAJOR MID-SUMMER SUMMONS: It is still uncertain if trainer Bill Mott will parlay the Jim Dandy victory by Favorite Trick to a Travers Stakes start. The 1-1/4 mile distance of the Mid-Summer Derby at Saratoga may be stretching his limitations. The last and only time he raced the classic route, he finished 8th in this year's Kentucky Derby. It may also be questionable if Coronado's Quest can handle the extra real estate. Winner of Sunday's $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park, N.J., Quest's lead was dwindling from a fast closing Victory Gallop. That Belmont Stakes victor will certainly like the added distance of the Travers over the 1-1/8 mile Haskell.