Riley Mott is no stranger to being at Gulfstream Park for its Championship Meet, the nation’s premiere winter racing destination, having worked a decade for his father, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, after graduating college.
But the 31-year-old Mott’s attachment to South Florida goes back much further.
“I was born in Hollywood, so it’s pretty much home for me. I spent pretty much every winter of my life other than when I was in high school and college down in Florida,” he said. “Last year, having to skip Florida hurt a little bit but I always planned on coming back. I’m really excited to be here for the winter.”
The 85-day Championship Meet opens Dec. 1. Mott has 37 stalls at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, and will maintain a small string of a dozen or 15 horses at Oaklawn Park, where he raced last winter.
Mott, who currently has 50 horses in training, has Town Barber entered as the first also-eligible in the 11th race Dec. 2, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting five furlongs on Gulfstream’s new turf course. The next day, Mott has four horses entered on the Gulfsteam card, including James Karp’s 5-year-old mare Sand and Sea in the $100,000 Orange Blossom Overnight Handicap for fillies and mares 3 and up going a mile and 70 yards on the all-weather Tapeta.
At the recently concluded Sunshine Meet, Mott had one win and two seconds from eight starters.
Mott officially launched his career last fall. He had 56 starters at last winter’s Oaklawn meet, with seven wins, seven seconds, four thirds and $613,043 in purse earnings. This year, he has 19 wins, 19 seconds, 15 thirds and a bankroll of $1,415,386 from 159 starters.
“The first 13 months went by extremely fast; at the same time, it felt like it drug on for a while. It was a little bit of both,” he said. “I’m really happy how the first year went. I think we accomplished some good things and cultivated a really good team.”
Mott discovered just how important that is while dealing with the challenges he has faced regarding his 2-year-old daughter, Margot, who is at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor. Mott and wife Megan also have a son, William, who was born in June.
Ehalt: Holiday a Time for Thanks and Prayers for Bill Mott
“Between my string in Florida and my string and Arkansas and visiting Memphis, I’m basically on a plane every three days making the triangle between the three places. If that’s what I need to do to take care of my family and take care of the horses, that’s what I’ll do,” Mott said. “It doesn’t really bother me. I just want the family to be comfortable and in good shape and (know that) the horses are well taken care of.
“I can’t say enough about the team that I have at the barn. My schedule now is just a testament to the help and staff that I have. I wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” he added. “Most people would say the same thing, but particularly in this situation when I can’t be there every single day in one specific location, just having such a great staff that know exactly how we do things, I can’t say enough about how important that is.”
Mott said one of the things that has helped the family cope is developing relationships with other families that are dealing with the same, or a similar, illness.
“Being at St. Jude, which is arguably the top cancer research hospital in the world, you meet people that not only have children who have cancer but children that have a very similar cancer to what our daughter has,” Mott said. “It’s a very specialized type of hospital so we’re meeting families that are going basically the same thing we are.
“For example, we randomly met this young couple the other day. Their story was almost identical to ours, about how they diagnosed it, what their symptoms were, just everything that they’ve been going through. They’re like our clones, basically,” he added. “Just being able to talk to people that know what you’re going through is really helpful, and it’s really a tight-knit community at St. Jude.”
Mott said the family is encouraged by his daughter’s progress, and he has felt empowered by the entire experience.
“She had a lot of trauma from the initial brain surgery, so it really took a lot out of her mentally and physically. We’re seeing a little bit of improvement every day, mentally and physically, which is really good to see. Hopefully that counts for something,” Mott said. “I would not wish what we’re going through on any parent or enemy I have, if I have any at all. You wouldn’t wish it on anybody. But the tragedy that we’re facing, a lot of good has come from it, if that makes sense. The outreach that people have extended our way—friends, family and particularly the horse industry. They’ve really rallied around our family. People we don’t even know and some people we haven’t even met have gone out of their way in trying to help us.
“It’s really inspired me to want to help other people that are in similar situations. We’ve learned who our really good friends are and learned that there are people in our corner that we had no idea were in our corner,” he added. “We’ve been able to raise a lot of money to donate to St. Jude for cancer research, so that’s another major positive. It’s been really great. It’s been a learning experience, but at the same time our hearts are absolutely broken and we’re hoping for a good ending. That’s all you can really do. You’ve just got to believe that you’re doing everything in your power and the rest is up to the man upstairs, whoever that may be.”
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
