Bill Mott. (Coady Media)
Sovereignty’s Hall of Fame trainer to be feted Nov. 2
Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners Release
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Reigning Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bill Mott, who went from the South Dakota fair tracks to the pinnacle of horse racing, has been named recipient of the 2025 Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award presented by the Louisville-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners (KTO).
Mott will be feted Saturday November 22 at the KTO’s annual awards dinner at the Kentucky Derby Museum. The cost is $175 for non-members, with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. To purchase tickets, call Lynda Woods at 502-644-5251 or by emailing lwoods1112@aol.com. The deadline for reservations is Nov. 13.
“For me, the biggest honor you can have is to be recognized by your peers as someone who does a good job,” said Mott, who won his second Kentucky Derby this year with Godolphin’s Sovereignty. “That’s the best compliment you can ever get. To be called Horseman of the Year? What’s better than that?”
Throughout his career, Mott has been known as a meticulous and hands-on horseman. A nine-time meet leader, he was Churchill Downs’ all-time win leader from June of 1986 (when his 272nd victory passed Henry Forrest) until the fall of 2017, when Mott’s 702 career victories under the Twin Spires were in turn surpassed by Dale Romans. (Romans subsequently was topped by Steve Asmussen in 2020 at 738.)
At Keeneland, Mott and Rusty Arnold are tied for the all-time lead at 307 through the spring meet, with Mott ranking No. 2 in stakes victories (72-52 behind Todd Pletcher). He has six Keeneland training crowns.
The Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners is an educational and social organization dedicated to the betterment of racing in the state. Membership is open not only to owners, but anyone interested in the sport, including prospective owners.
The Warner Jones Award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to Kentucky racing and sharing the passion exemplified by Jones, who spent 50 years on the Churchill Downs board, including eight as chairman during the iconic track’s initial resurgence. Jones was the inaugural award winner in 1988, six years before his death.
“My gosh, a Hall of Fame trainer who spent a big chunk of his career here — and still has horses racing in Kentucky — and actually trained for Warner Jones,” said KTO President Tommy Drury. “I can’t think of a more deserving winner. Bill has been outstanding his entire career, and the fact that he has so many owners who have been with him for so many years speaks volumes about his horsemanship and character.”
Also at the dinner: Kentucky chief state steward Barbara Borden will be honored with the organization’s Woman of the Year Award and Gabby Gaudet, Keeneland’s new Director of Communications after serving as a leading FanDuel TV analyst and reporter since 2019, will receive the KTO’s John Asher Up and Comer Award.
Jones loomed large at Churchill Downs in the early and mid-1980s, when Mott’s career began transitioning from claiming horses to graded-stakes horses. Mott at various times had horses for the track’s transformative board chair, even after relocating his main base to New York in 1986 (but always keeping a division at Churchill Downs).
“Winning an award named for Warner Jones makes it that much more special,” Mott said, recalling Jones’ affinity for horse trainers. “But this really is a team award for all the horses’ owners and my staff who have worked so hard for so many years. I don’t get this honor without them.”
The Kentucky Derby Museum, located on Churchill Downs property, likewise has special meaning to Mott. The museum’s immersive 360-degree film experience, called The Greatest Race, now incorporates video of Sovereignty winning the 151st Kentucky Derby in May. The victory was Mott’s second in America’s most beloved race but the first in which the trainer enjoyed the thrill of finishing in front. Country House, who crossed the line in second, was awarded victory in the 2019 Derby upon the disqualification of first-place finisher Maximum Security for interference.
Growing up in South Dakota, Mott never even tried to imagine being in the Kentucky Derby, let alone winning.
“From where I started — that was Fort Pierre, South Dakota, by the way — never dreaming that I’d ever come to Kentucky,” he said after the Derby. “I mean, I never even imagined that I would ever be here. I never imagined even being at Churchill Downs…. It was a dream that was even too far away for me.”
Sovereignty is a dream horse, becoming the most accomplished 3-year-old following a Derby victory since Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015. While Godolphin and Mott opted to skip the Preakness Stakes, Sovereignty subsequently reeled off victories in the Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy and Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Mott is training the colt up to the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
“We’ve had other years where we’ve probably had more stakes winners, but to have a 3-year-old like that is something we’ve never had before,” Mott said. “We’ve won the Belmont before, and we won the Derby. But we’ve never had a 3-year-old who has had that kind of run: Derby, Belmont and Travers — that’s my Triple Crown.”
At age 45 in 1998, Mott became the youngest flat trainer inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where Mott lives much of the year.
In his 52-year training career — not counting when he was old enough to own a horse but not to officially be the trainer — Mott has gone on to rank No. 4 in North American career purse earnings at more than $366.7 million and No. 8 in all-time wins at 5,552, according to Equibase statistics. His 573 graded stakes also rank No. 4 all-time; his 151 victories in Grade 1 stakes rank No. 6, Equibase reports.
Mott famously trained 1995-’96 Horse of the Year and $7.5 million-earner Cigar, whose streak of 16 straight wins including the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic and inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996 caught the fascination of the entire sports world. Mott’s trademark patience paid off with 2023 Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish, two-time sprint champion Elite Power, Belmont ($28 winner) and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner ($31.60) Drosselmeyer as well as two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and three-time champion Royal Delta.
Known for having horses around for years, Mott runners have included Channel Maker, a graded-stakes winner at ages 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9; Casa Creed, a Grade 1 winner at ages 5, 6 and 7 and War Like Goddess, who defeated males in New York’s Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at ages 5 and 6. Tourist might have needed five attempts to earn his first victory, but he was never better than at age 5 when he capped his career with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
As Sovereignty has shown, Mott also has a deft touch with young horses, including 2-year-old filly champion Just F Y I. Grass, dirt, long, short, boys and girls, Mott has trained elite horses in every division.
“Bill has been a role model for countless young trainers — heck, for trainers of all ages, including me,” Drury said. “He has been a huge supporter of Kentucky racing for more than 50 years, throughout all our ups and downs. In the wake of Sovereignty’s Derby victory, we couldn’t ask for a more heartfelt ambassador for not just Kentucky racing but our industry in general.”
Past Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award recipients
