Mott Works Elate, Yoshida, Channel Maker at Santa Anita

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott sent a classy contingent of Breeders' Cup contenders to the track Oct. 27 to complete their final pre-race works at Santa Anita Park.

In Mott's words, "Each work was very straightforward, very simple, very uncomplicated."

With Elate and Yoshida  headed to the Nov. 2 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and Channel Maker pointing toward the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) on the same card, Mott sent one grade 1-winning horse per period to the main track after three separate renovation breaks, and each turned in easy moves alone under exercise rider Juan Quintero.

"You just want to know if they handle this racetrack," Mott said. "One of the top jockeys here told me, 'Some horses seem to really get over it well and like it, and some don't. If they don't like it, they're not going to run well over it.' It seemed to me that they got over it well enough. Even though the times weren't fast, they looked like they were traveling well, and Juan said he felt they were moving very well."

Yoshida, a grade 1 winner on dirt and turf, led the way around 6:30 a.m. PT and worked four furlongs in :50 flat. The 5-year-old son of Heart's Cry comes off a third in the Aug. 31 Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.

"We skipped the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) with him just because we wanted to have him fresh for this race," Mott said. "Elate is coming in off a four-week rest, but he's coming in off a rest of more than eight weeks. He's run fresh before. We just wanted to give him his best opportunity here."

Elate was next up for Mott with the 7:45 a.m. set. The 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro  stretched her legs over three furlongs in :36 4/5. One work prior, she fired the bullet for the same distance in :34 3/5 Oct. 19 at Churchill Downs.

"She went good," Mott said of Sunday's move. "She had a fast work over at Churchill before she left for California, and I wasn't looking for that. She looked smooth through the stretch and came back good."

Racing for breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, Elate comes off a runner-up finish—half a length behind Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) runner Blue Prize—in the Oct. 6 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. A bruiser of a mare who missed last year's Breeders' Cup because of a splint bone issue that was slow to heal, she was fourth in the 2017 Distaff.

"She's straightforward," Mott said. "She's always willing to train, she's always willing to go do whatever you ask her to do. She's a big, strong mare with a tough enough disposition. She wants to let you know she's the boss around her own house, which is a good thing. She's as big and strong as any of the boys. Physically, she's a massive mare, but just based on performance—the fact she's 3-for-3 at the distance and she's produced good speed figures in the past, and she's been in a lot of grade 1 company—I think she belongs in the Classic."

Mott said he appreciates the opportunity to run Elate in the 1 1/4-mile Classic, a target he's wanted to pursue with the mare for some time.

"It's just something I always said I wanted to do, after seeing her wins in the Alabama Stakes (G1) and the Delaware races," he said. "It's just something that seems like a natural fit.

"I have to give a lot of credit to the owners that gave us an opportunity to give her another chance," he said. "She was already a grade 1 winner (when she was sidelined), and a lot of people would have said, 'Well, let's just stop now.' But they said, 'Give her the time, bring her back, see how she is, and we'll skip the breeding season and race her another year if she's doing OK.' And that's exactly what happened."

The last to work Sunday for Mott was Channel Maker, who came to the track around 9 a.m. and went four furlongs in :49 4/5.

"His final workout here was on the dirt. We've worked him on the dirt and he always seems to come back fine, and that's one reason we just kept him there," Mott said. "Sometimes the dirt for a workout is more forgiving than the turf, in my estimation. He seems to have always done well that way. We just wanted to give him a little exercise and get him to the race like the rest of them."

Racing for Adam Wachtel, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable, and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, the 5-year-old son of English Channel  was second last out to Arklow, half a length behind, in the Oct. 5 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park.

"He's a remarkable racehorse," Mott said. "You probably would never rate him with the top turf horses that ever ran, like Manila and Theatrical and some of those horses. You couldn't put him in that category, but he's a real knocker. He's a real workmanlike-type of horse that just goes out there and he gives it to you. You never know how he's going to do it, whether he's going to be close to the pace or coming from off the pace or what, but if he gets a nice smooth trip, he always gets a piece of the action.

"He's earned over a million dollars this year alone. So you look down (at his past performances) and you say, 'Wow, pretty darn nice horse.'"