Sovereignty touched by Manitoba magic

Winnipeg Free Press

a day ago

It's a long and winding road from St. Laurent, Man., to the Kentucky Derby, but Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott found the way.
When Sovereignty came powering down the stretch to win the 151st Kentucky Derby five weeks ago for Mott, it marked the third time in four years that Manitoba had a strong connection to the Run for the Roses.
In 2022, 80-1 shot Rich Strike became the first horse in history out of a Manitoba-bred mare to win the Kentucky Derby. Rich Strike was out of Gold Strike, who was bred by Winnipegger Dick Bonnycastle of Harlequin Romance fame. In 2023, Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan was sired by Goldencents, who is out of a Manitoba-bred named Golden Works, a two-time winner at Assiniboia Downs bred by Phil Kives.
JEFF ROBERSON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Sovereignty crosses the finish line to win the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby early in May this year.
Now, we've got 71-year-old Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who stomped the terra in St. Laurent, during his formative years with horses, as the conditioner of the 2025 Kentucky Derby winner.
'My father and his partner owned some property near St. Laurent,' said Mott from his barn in New York. 'We had a ranch up there. I spent a couple of years on the ranch when I was 12 and 13 years old. We had eight or nine hundred head of cattle up there every summer. That was before I went to the racetrack, but we made a few trips to Assiniboia Downs. My father was a veterinarian, and he always loved horses, so we went to the races in Winnipeg.'
'My father bought a couple horses out of Winnipeg. He bought a horse named Royal Envy from Assiniboia Downs and sent him to me at Park Jefferson. We won some races with him, he was a pretty neat horse. I knew some guys who raced up there on a regular basis.
'Roy Bittner and Melvin Schanzenbach would come down to Atokad in Nebraska when Assinboia Downs closed up. I was just a kid then, in 67-68. 'Schanzy' had a horse named John Jet. He was lengths ahead of the other South Dakota-breds. He brought him back in the fall of the year to win some of the bigger races.'
In 1998, at age 45, Mott surpassed H. Allen Jerkens as the youngest trainer ever to be inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. He's won 15 Breeders Cup races, two Kentucky Derbies, two Belmont Stakes and the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer in North America four times. He's won 5,513 races and over US$360 million in purses. He started training horses shortly after leaving Manitoba, which he recalled fondly.
'I was living on the ranch in St. Laurent by myself after we got it fenced,' said Mott. 'Then it was just me and a guy named Swede Benoit from South Dakota. We took care of all the cattle and the horses. You have to ride up there. It's pretty rough country. You don't just drive around the pasture. There's some lowlands, and a lot of trees and brush. We rode everyday checking the cattle, taking care of them.
'The first year we were up there we didn't even have a shower. We heated water up and took baths in a wash tub. The second year my Dad put in a shower. We were first class then. I've got a lot of good memories of my time up there. I loved it.'
One of the things that sets the great trainers apart from the good ones is their empathy for horses. Hall of Famer Jerkens, widely regarded as one of the best horse trainers in the history of the sport, had it. Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham, the all-time leading trainer of stakes winners in California had it. Mott definitely has it, for both people and horses.
I first noticed it in Mott when I was covering Cigar at the 1995 Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park for the Thoroughbred Times. One of the most famous horses in the history of the sport, Cigar was in the midst of establishing a 16-race winning streak of the likes that hadn't been seen since the mighty Citation accomplished a similar feat in the late 1940s.
On one memorable morning the Belmont backstretch was flooded, and I was the lone reporter standing outside Cigar's barn in the pouring rain. Mott asked me why I was standing outside getting drenched, and I told him my job was to cover Cigar for the week. 'I'm not supposed to let you in the barn,' he said. 'But you can't stand out there. Come on in.'
I met Cigar, and his groom Juan Campozano, who, along with Mott, let me pet the most famous horse in the world at the time. It was one of those special moments in life that you never forget, thanks to the kindness of Mott. On the morning of the 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic, I walked out to the track with Cigar, who was accompanied by Mott on his pony. It was still raining and the track would be sloppy that day, and we wondered what Cigar would think of it.
The moment Cigar stepped on the racetrack he reared up and looked like Pegasus. There would be no beating him that day. He won by 2-1/2 lengths and it was never in doubt. Immediately after the race, I was standing on the track beside his owner Allen Paulson and he turned to me and said, 'He's something else, isn't he.' Later that evening at the barn, Mott and everyone in the barn connected to Cigar signed a numbered print for me.
While gathered around the barn, Mott tried to read a poem entitled Of Cigar, Smoke and Mirrors by Cigar as told to Gilda A. Libero, who at the time was walking horses for Mott, and who now works as the program co-ordinator at the New York Racing Association.
'I couldn't get through it,' said Mott. 'I kept tearing up.'
The last half of the poem read:
JESSICA HILL / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trainer Bill Mott (right) lifts the August Belmont trophy as jockey Junior Alvarado looks on after winning the 157th running of the Belmont Stakes with Sovereignty.
The knowledge of what lies within is my hidden wealth.
For when all the talk is said and done, and judgements handed in,
I, and those who love me know, what's there has always been.
Eye to eye, who dares to look, I capture their reflection.
A mirrored gaze reveals their soul, now open to detection.
With knowledge of the answer, a question I do ask:
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Rise up now, so truth be known, are YOU equal to the task?
Sovereignty was up to the task in the Kentucky Derby. As was his trainer. The two friends teamed up again to win the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday.
Sovereignty's Kentucky Derby win was reminiscent of one of the best conditioning jobs in history to win the Derby, accomplished by Charlie Whittingham with Ferdinand in 1986. Mott and Whittingham knew they had a Derby horse long before the race. When asked about the comparison and credited for the work he did with Sovereignty, Mott was humble as always.
'He's a good horse,' he said. 'And I guess they make you look good.'
Sometimes, there's a reason.