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Riley Tucker

Post Position 10

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PHOTO CREDIT: Horsephotos/NTRA

It seems only right that Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott should get this colt ready for the Preakness Stakes. After all, Mott has a son named Riley Tucker and the horse was named after him.     The colt is owned by Zayat Stables, one of Mott’s major owners, and prepared himself for this leap into the classic races by finishing second and third in two stakes races at Keeneland, the latter being the Coolmore Lexington, where he chased Behindatthebar to the wire.

TRAINER -William I. Mott, originally from Mobridge, S.D., now resides in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Breeders’ Cup victories: Classic – Cigar (1995); Turf – Theatrical (1987), Fraise (1992); Distaff – Ajina (1997), Escena (1998).     Though he has seldom been a regular on the Triple Crown trail, Hall of Famer Mott has been preparing at least three prospects – Court Vision, Majestic Warrior and Z Humor – for this year’s Run for the Roses. Two of them ran in the Kentucky Derby, Court Vision finishing 13th and Z Humor 14th.     Contrary to the trainer’s history, he saddled several 2-year-old winners in 2007, with Majestic Warrior battling his way to victory in Saratoga’s Grade I Hopeful Stakes, the trainer’s first win in that prestigious race. Of Mott’s meet-leading 27 victories during the 2007 Saratoga season, 11 came with juveniles. By being the meet’s leading trainer, Mott broke a five-year Todd Pletcher stranglehold on the title.     Mott has made his biggest marks in the business with older horses, especially all-time money winner Cigar, whom the trainer saddled to 16 straight victories before the string was halted in the 1996 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Even so, the runner was Horse of the Year and Eclipse Award-winning older horse in both 1995 and 1996. Over that span, Cigar’s victory skein included the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996. His career earnings total an all-time best of $9,999, 815. After showing infertility in the breeding barn, Cigar was retired and is living at Kentucky Horse Park.     The trainer received the Eclipse Award as North America’s premier conditioner during the two-year reign of Cigar. He was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1998 as the youngest trainer inductee at age 45.     Other Eclipse Award winners for Mott: Theatrical, 1987 champion male turf horse; Paradise Creek, 1994 champion male turf horse; Ajina, 1997 champion 3-year-old filly, and Escena, 1998 older filly or mare.     The trainer knew early that he wanted to spend his life with Thoroughbreds, beginning with his travels with his veterinarian father as he made his calls. He owned and trained his first horse, a $320 mare named My Assets, when he was 15 years old. He ran the appropriately named mare at unrecognized meets in South Dakota before posting his first victory at a recognized racetrack with her at the now-defunct Park Jefferson Racetrack.     With purse earnings from My Assets and his savings, he bought Kosmic Tour for $2,000 and won the South Dakota Futurity at Park Jefferson with Kosmic Tour before he was out of high school.     He later worked for Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg and then opened a public stable in 1978 at age 25. Mott set the record for victories in a season at Churchill Downs during the 1984 spring meet with 54. Through the years, Mott has won nine training titles at Saratoga, 10 at Belmont Park and nine at Gulfstream Park.     Other graded stakes winners during his career: My Typhoon, Angara, Sand Springs, Lattice, Gun Salute, Shakespeare, Sweet Symphony, Wend, Silver Tree, Sharp Susan, Ebony Breeze, Silver Whistle, Pommes Frites, Istan, Splendid Blended, After Market, Go Between, Taittinger Rose, Old Forester and Union Avenue.     Mott posted 2007 purse earnings of $9,949,267 and 156 victories. The earnings mark placed him fifth on the list of North American trainers.

JOCKEY - Edgar Prado, Born: Jan. 12, 1967 in Lima, Peru is now a resident of Miami, Flaorida.     Prado will be inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in August. He became the 16th North American jockey to earn 6,000 career victories on Feb. 10 of this year and finished eighth among money-winning jockeys for 2007 with purses worth $13,662,743. He is among top runners for the rider in 2007: Panty Raid, Scat Daddy, Lawyer Ron, Sky Conqueror, Masseuse, King of the Roxy, Kip Deville, Sightseeing, Bit of Whimsy and A.P. Arrow     He reached the heights in Thoroughbred racing by winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby aboard the undefeated Barbaro and dedicated the victory to his mother, who died earlier in the year. It was the rider’s seventh attempt to win the classic. After reaching Derby heights with victory, found the lowest of lows in the Preakness Stakes when Barbaro suffered career-ending injuries in the Preakness. The colt survived for months before being euthanized in late January.     Prado won the 2006 Eclipse Award as the nation’s top rider and finished second to Garrett Gomez in purse earnings with $19,765,013, his best earnings figure yet and the third straight year to finish as runner-up. Other top runners for 2006: Round Pond, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; Premium Tap, third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; Badge of Silver, third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile; Nightmare Affair, third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint; Film Maker, second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf; King of the Roxy, Wonder Lady Anne L, Silver Train and Cacique. He stands second to Alex Solis on the money-winner list among active riders with career earnings of $202,429,465 as of late February.     He has been based in New York for several years after establishing himself as the top rider in Maryland and was the nation’s leading rider by victories for three straight years: 536 in 1997, 470 in ‘98 and 402 in ‘99. He rode his 5,000th career winner early in 2004. In 2005, had a then-personal best purse earnings year with a total of $18,615, 366, edging ahead of his previous best of $18,342,106. His 2005 total put him in second place among earnings by riders in North America, the second year in a row for such a placing . He topped off his big year with two wins on Breeders’ Cup championship day – Folklore in the Juvenile Fillies and Silver Train in the Sprint.     Among other top horses ridden in 2005: Society Selection, Henny Hughes, Suave, King’s Drama, Smuggler, Lost in the Fog, Kitten’s Joy, Sis City and Sun King, who finished 15th in the Kentucky Derby, High Limit, fourth in the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes fourth-place finisher Indy Storm. Among top horses ridden in 2004: Birdstone, with whom he won the Belmont Stakes and deprived Smarty Jones of Triple Crown fame; Roses in May, Request for Parole, Wonder Again, Midas Eyes, Sense of Style and Sun King.     He won the 2002 Saratoga riding title, defeating perennial champ Jerry Bailey. Won the Young Jockeys World Championship in Japan in March of 1994. Led all Maryland riders in wins in 1991 1993 and ‘97-’99.     Prado comes from a family of 12 children, nine boys and three girls; he's second youngest. His father trained horses in Peru and two brothers were jockeys there. In 1984, he was Peru's leading jockey. Came to U.S. in 1986 to be contract rider for trainer Manuel Azpurua; won his first race in the U.S. on June 1, 1986 at Calder Race Course.     Top thrills in racing prior to winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby: Winning the 1991 Budweiser International with Leariva, and winning the 2002 Belmont Stakes aboard 70-1 shot Sarava and 2004 Belmont with Birdstone. Also in 2002, rode stakes winners Sky Mesa, Harlan’s Holiday and Whywhywhy. Other best horses ridden during career: Grab the Green, Miss Josh, Smart Alec, Western Echo, Square Cut, Wind Splitter, Highland Springs, Jolie's Halo, Valley Crossing.     He made his first start in the Kentucky Derby in 2000, finishing 17th aboard Commendable; finished fourth aboard Thunder Blitz in 2001, seventh on Harlan’s Holiday in 2002, third with Peace Rules in 2003, eighth on Birdstone in 2004, 15th with Sun King in 2006 and 18th aboard Scat Daddy in 2007. He received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 2003.

OWNER - Zayat Stables is owned by Ahmed Zayat, originally from Cairo, Egypt, he has residences in New Jersey, New York, London, England and Egypt.     He holds master’s degrees from Boston University and Harvard.     In business, he is best known for privatizing Al Ahram Beverages Company and turning it into the largest beverage manufacturer and distributor in the Middle East before selling it to Heineken International. He is involved in several other industries, most notably as the largest shareholder in the largest manufacturer of glass containers in Egypt, Misr Glass Manufacturing.     Zayat was introduced to horses in his teens as a competitor in national show jumping events in his native Egypt. In 2005, he founded Zayat Stable and almost immediately became a major force in racing and in the sales arena. Among the stable’s top runners are Grade I winners Point Ashley and Downthedustyroad, as well as other stakes winners High Again, Got the Last Laugh, Marcavelly, Belgravia, Forefathers, E Z Warrior and Baroness Thatcher.     In 2006, Zayat Stables campaigned horses at Del Mar for the first time under the guidance of trainer Bob Baffert and finished third on the earnings list for the summer meet. However, in 2007, voicing concerns about Del Mar’s Polytrack surface, he pulled his horses from Southern California and sent them to Saratoga where they helped him win the owner’s title with 18 victories from 47 starts.     One of his Saratoga winners was Maimonides, who broke his maiden at first asking by 11 1/2 lengths after coming from Southern California. Maimonides, a son of Vindication, brought $4.6 million at the 2006 Keeneland September yearling sale.     Zayat Stables has about 200 horses, with 170 in training with such conditioners as Bill Mott, Dale Romans, Tony Dutrow, Scott Lake and Jonathan Sheppard. The owner also keeps about 20 broodmares in Kentucky with an eye toward getting involved in the breeding business before long.     The stables’ purse earnings for 2007 totaled $6,171,916, good for second place among North American owners behind the massive Stronach Stables’ $7,076,138. Zayat posted 98 victories on the year.

BREEDER - Formal Gold, LLC., of Kentucky is the breeder of Riley Tucker.