Top Trainer: Take Your Pick


Who do you think will be the Gulfstream 2001 champion trainer? Try Bill Mott or Frank Passero Jr. While both have gotten off to a slow start this meeting, each has owned or shared the title since 1993.

Mott, 47, was on top in 1993-94, '95-98 and 2000. Passero, 67, won in '99. They shared the championship in '95. The winning streak started after the late Hubert "Sonny" Hine, who trained the great Skip Away, led the '92 meeting. That season retired jockey Julie Krone, Gulfstream's official spokesperson, captured the first of two back-to-back riding titles.

Mott, the youngest trainer to be inducted into racing's Hall of Fame two years ago, also has won multiple titles at Keeneland, Churchill Downs and Saratoga. He saddled Horse of the World Cigar, who won four times at Gulfstream during his 16 consecutive victories from '94 to '96 that tied Citation for the North American record.

He tagged along with his father, a veterinarian who treated horses, before winning at 15 with his first horse in South Dakota. Ironically, the $320 mare was called My Assets. Before graduating high school, he bought another horse for $2,000 and won the South Dakota Futurity. Starting in 1975, he worked three years as Jack Van Berg's assistant before going on his own. The rest is history.

Mott, who lives with his family in Garden City, N.Y., also has saddled such champions as 3-year-old fillies Escena, '98, and Ajina, '97, who both won the Breeders' Cup Distaff; Paradise Creek, '94 male turf champion; Fraise, '92 BC Turf winner; and Theatrical, '87 male grass champion who won the BC Turf.

Passero resides where he was born, in Ontario, Canada. The former riding academy owner and instructor bought his first horse for $350 in 1964 and several months later won with Copper Glow at Finger Lakes. His mentor was a late uncle, a claiming trainer. He also has won multiple training titles at Delaware Park and Woodbine.

He holds the North American record for most consecutive victories, 14, set in '96 at Gulfstream.
The copyright of the article Top Trainer: Take Your Pick in Horse Racing is owned by Greg Melikov. Permission to republish Top Trainer: Take Your Pick in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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