Casa Creed Bestows More 'Fame' on Mott
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Casa Creed (outside) outduels Sombeyay to win the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Fame was the name of the game for trainer Bill Mott on a memorable Aug. 2 afternoon at Saratoga Race Course.
Several hours after standing at the podium and joining owner Benjamin Leon in offering an acceptance speech when his three-time champion Royal Delta was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame, a delighted Mott stood in the winner's circle at the Spa after Casa Creed provided him with a seventh victory in the $200,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2T) for 3-year-olds.
"It was a very special day. Royal Delta got inducted into the Hall of Fame—she was a very special mare," Mott said. "We won three championships and Eclipse Awards with her. To have her get into the Hall of Fame was great, and to top it off with the Hall of Fame race, it's always nice to win that on the same day."
If any trainer could pull off having one of his horses inducted into the Hall of Fame and winning the Hall of Fame Stakes on the same day, it figured to be Mott, who in 1998 at the age of 45 became the youngest trainer inducted into the Hall of Fame.
After swapping his Hall of Fame sport coat for a more dapper light blue model, Mott was quite pleased with the effort turned in by LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable's Casa Creed, who dug down and inched past a determined Sombeyay in the final yards to prevail by a head.
"He was very game. It looked (like) we were going to get to (Sombeyay), then the other horse got away from us. He showed a lot of courage in the stretch. He gave it everything he had. Both horses ran their hearts out and gave it everything they had," said Mott, who added that Casa Creed is unlikely to race again at the 40-day meet.
The victory was the third in 11 starts for Casa Creed, who was coming off a third-place finish when he lost by a half-length in the Manila Stakes July 4 at Belmont Park. It was the first graded stakes victory for the son of Jimmy Creed who has earned $364,508 and was bought by LRE Racing for $105,000 from the Kelli Mitchell consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Out of the Bellamy Road mare Achalaya, the 3-year-old was bred in Kentucky by Silver Springs Stud and was originally purchased by Amalio Ruiz-Lozano for $15,000 from the Janie Roper consignment at the 2017 Ocala Breeders' Sales Winter Mixed Sale.
"He's a nice horse," said owner Lee Einsidler, whose partner in Casa Creed is famed New York sports talk radio host Mike Francesa.
"We've been close friends for 25 years," Einsidler said about Francesa.
Casa Creed, who paid $6 to win as the 2-1 favorite, covered the mile in 1:33.72 under jockey Junior Alvarado over the Spa's inner turf course, three races after former Major League Baseball player Mike Napoli's Macagone broke the track record of 1:33.25 with a clocking of 1:33.13 in an allowance optional claimer for New York state-breds.
For Starlight Racing's Sombeyay, winner of last year's Sanford Stakes (G3) at the Spa, it was a tough defeat as he dueled for the early lead through fractions of :23.41 and :47.37 before giving way in the final yards.
"He gave a huge effort," jockey Luis Saez said.
Live Oak Plantation's Global Access was 1 3/4 lengths back in third.