Trainer Mott Hails Tacitus Despite Coronavirus Hiatus

Author:

Dave Metcalf

Publish Date:

03/04/2020

Experiences:

Our expert in-house tipster

Experiences:

Our expert in-house tipster

Dave is a born writer, with a deep-rooted talent in stringing words together in a way that turns even the driest of stories into a compelling, exciting read. Having written for his college newspaper and local gazette paper, his talent grew to the point he was so in-demand he struggled to manage the freelance clients asking for his time. After eight years writing about horse racing for a variety of different sites and newspapers, Dave chose to write solely for HorseBetting.com and fixed the goal of making the site the best US horse racing resource on the web firmly in his sights.

The spark that ultimately fuelled the path of Dave’s career was a quirk of geography. When he was eight, Dave’s family moved to Lexington, KY, which brought him within a stone’s throw of Keeneland. Dave’s imagination was instantly captured the first time he attended the track, and it remains his favorite place in the world to this day. In 2015, he was particularly delighted to be able to attend the Breeders’ Cup at the track that sparked a lifelong passion.

Dave, who is married with a daughter, has since moved out of Lexington but still lives in Kentucky. As well as horse racing, he is a huge Cincinnati Bengals fan as well as other equine events such as three-day eventing.

Trainer Riley Mott is currently adopting a fatalistic attitude to the Covid 19 pandemic that has shut horse racing down in many places across the United States.

But he still believes that his horse Tacitus is a real prospect for the coming year, however 2024 pans out in terms of events actually taking place.

Tacitus finished fifth in the inaugural Saudi Cup in February, but missed out on a run in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup, which was supposed to be run last Saturday (March 28) until Covid 19 intervened.

Looking forward

The four-year-old colt is now back at home at Belmont Park, after clearing quarantine in New Jersey.

“He shipped well, and he’s in good health. He’s been to the track and galloped,” said Mott. “We have a big dance card lined up for him if the races continue on.”

Tacitus finished third in last year’s Kentucky Derby. He also won the 2019 Tampa Bay Derby last March.

Mott was delighted with the horse’s performance in Saudi Arabia, and thinks he will perform well domestically, if the racing schedule continues in a recognisable form.

“He came out of the Saudi race fantastic, and we were eager to run in Dubai. We thought he was sitting on a really big race,” Mott told local reporters.

The trainer believes that the horse will be a competitive presence in some of the top handicap races, if the schedules continue relatively normally.

Mott also backs Tacitus to be just at the beginning of a successful career, with the Breeders’ Cup an eventual aim.

“You’d like to see him in races at Saratoga like the Woodward and the Whitney and then the Jockey Club Gold Cup again,” he added.