Parx Racing is bringing home yet another one of its premium racing on the 23rd of September. The Grade 1 betPARX Pennsylvania Derby carrying a purse of $1 million will supposedly be hosting some of the notable equines, jockeys, and trainers across the equestrian community. And joining the names is the ambitious and much-respected trainer of Cigar.
The Pennsylvania Derby providing ground for the 3-year-old equines will also be a base prep for the equines entering the Breeder’s Cup; to be held in November this year. Amongst the notable equines, aiming for a comeback will be the son of Good Magic. Trained by the Hall of Fame equestrian the gelding will run for a redemption on the 23rd.
Equestrian fame to back his equine following loss at stakes
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Bill Mott is probably one of the biggest names in the equestrian community. Starting his career as early as 1973, Mott has steadily made his way to the Hall of Fame. Having incurred about 600 starts to his name five years into his career, Mott has walked on to win prestigious awards. In 1995 and 1996 the trainer etched his name on the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer. And at the age of 45, marked his pinnacle by being inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Now passing through it all, Mott stands to prove his work exerting support to his 3-year-old gelding, Scotland. Running his first Grade 1 stakes wasn’t exactly a desirable result for the Mott-trained equine. Racing alongside six 3-year-olds at the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course back in August Scotland fell back to the 6th spot. However, the condition did not seem to bring down Mott. “There’s not much to say, He went to the lead, got pressured and then backed up. Sometimes you have to go to war to get hardened.” Mott said talking about Travers according to Paulick Report.
Now as the betPARX is nearing the schedule, the trainer is confident to run Scotland. “There is other speed in there,” he said. “In the Travers, there was only one horse that had any remarkable speed. It’s a bigger field at Parx and someone will probably show some speed.” Despite the Travers, Mott’s decision to put Scotland back on track at the Grade 1 stakes shows no surprise. The 3-year-old gelding holds an impressive record to show his worth in the upcoming Derby.
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Scotland’s impressive performance
The LNJ Foxwood-owned 3-year-old gelding made his early this year. Since then Scotland has had 5 starts with 3 wins and a third accumulating career earnings at $229,960. It was on July 21st that the gelding ran his most notable race and earned a win. Competing at the Curlin Stakes and winning by a length of 3 ¼, Scotland earned his ticket to the Travers. Nonetheless, that wasn’t all to the gelding’s name.
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Prior to Curlin, Scotland earned two of his other wins by a head at an allowance and a maiden. While his first loss, stopping down to 3rd was a loss by a nose. The competition went down at Keeneland in April where Mott believed that Scotland probably thought he had won the match. However, the equine ran for redemption at Curlin proving the equestrian community is no stranger to turn of events.
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Up for the next big match, Scotland will reportedly be racing Il Miracolo, whom he previously defeated alongside Reincarnate, Saudi Crown, and Magic Tap. Hopefully, with the excellent trainer-trainee combination and following down his previous path patterns, Scotland will race to Victory on Sunday.
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