They are members of the club virtually all their brethren dream of gaining access to. They have the most famous accolade of their vocation on their respective résumés. And for the rest of their already storied careers, they will forever be introduced with the prefix that resonates loudest to the mainstream public.
Let the record show that Hall of Famer Bill Mott and two-time Eclipse Award victor Brad Cox are Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning trainers, blissfully removing their names from tedious conversations about the best conditioners to never claim the first leg of the Triple Crown. They'll also forever have a positive answer for the airline seat mate who finds out what they do for a living and poses the inevitable "Have you ever?" query where the first Saturday in May is concerned.
Privileged as the Derby affiliation is, Mott and Cox also occupy space in a more exclusive subset, one with only three members to it. While they share the most rarified of end results, the circumstances that led them past that velvet rope couldn't be more varied.
"I guess you know if you're asked, you say 'Yes, but there's a story behind it,'" Cox said of his Derby triumph. "You don't just say 'Yes.'"
The section in the Kentucky Derby media guide on disqualifications, inquiries, and foul claims, historically one of the shorter sections in the tome, has had two new entries added in the last six years. Where the 1968 disqualification of Dancer's Image due to a medication positive previously reigned as the only time a horse who crossed the wire first in the 1 1/4-mile classic was taken down, Mott and Cox now have their proteges added as beneficiaries in the infamous annals.
In 2019, Mott-trained Country House was elevated to the win after Maximum Security was disqualified for interference and placed 17th. Two years later, an epic level of post-Derby drama ensued when first-place finisher Medina Spirit tested positive for the prohibited race-day medication betamethasone, resulting in lengthy regulatory battle that ultimately saw Cox's trainee Mandaloun , second across the wire, declared victorious.
Since those adjudicated triumphs, both Mott and Cox have taken multiple swings at winning the Kentucky Derby the old-fashioned way with Mott saddling three starters over the last five years and Cox leading over nine entrants since 2021. Each is hoping the 151st edition of the race goes down as the year they see their runners hit the wire in front as Mott has a leading threat in Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) winner Sovereignty while Cox, after losing Florida Derby (G1) winner Tappan Street to injury, is still represented by Juddmonte homebred Final Gambit, the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) winner who will be trying dirt for the first time May 3.
Mott and Cox may have the commonality of seeing an asterisk by their initial Derby triumphs, but that is where the mutual experience ends. Their perspectives on how they view what transpired and what it means to them on an emotional level couldn't be on further ends of the spectrum.
A Chance to Celebrate
When asked how he responds to those who inquire if he's ever won horse racing's most famous 1 1/4-mile test, Mott grins and exclaims, "Damn right I did!" It's a rightfully emphatic declaration for the legendary horseman who not only got Country House honed to run the race of his life on Derby Day, but—unlike Cox—got to actually experience the spoils of the victory.
It may have taken 23 minutes for the decision to become official but after the stewards determined that Maximum Security's bearing out from the rail and interference with War of Will and Long Range Toddy merited a disqualification, Mott and the rest of Country House's connections got to make the walk to the Derby winner's circle, hoist the trophy, and generally bask in the postrace afterglow that comes with the blanket of roses.
"The year they put Country House up, he ran terrific that day," Mott recalled. "He was second and was probably second best in that race, but they put him up because the other horse demolished half the field. But the way (Country House) moved way forward on that particular day from his race in the Louisiana Derby, he ran huge. Even to be second, my son Riley and I were going down and you would have thought we won the race.
"You're always preparing yourself because ... you want to win, you're excited and you're optimistic but you have to prepare yourself for any outcome because you just don't know. I'm willing to accept whatever outcome there is."
While the image of Mott's smiling visage holding the Derby hardware above his head is forever immortalized, Cox has to check his phone records when recalling the moment when official confirmation came down that he had indeed won the Derby in his first year of saddling starters in the race.
Victory Delayed
The initial announcement of Medina Spirit's positive postrace test was made eight days after he hit the wire in the Kentucky Derby and, due to legal wrangling, it took until February 2022 for stewards to subsequently announce the disqualification and 90-day suspension of trainer Bob Baffert. The Hall of Famer, along with owner Amr Zedan, futilely attempted to appeal that decision, arguing that the presence of the corticosteroid in the colt's system was due to the application of an ointment rather than injection.
Hence, it wasn't until February 2024—nearly three years after the race and one month after the first reported foal by Mandaloun was born—that the stewards' ruling was made official and the Equibase chart from the 2021 classic updated with the Juddmonte homebred as the winner.
"No, not really," Cox said when asked if he feels like a Derby-winning trainer. "Obviously (with Country House), they took a win picture, and the disqualification came 15-20 minutes after the race in their situation. Ours was a lot of 'Well we heard this, and we heard that' and obviously it went on for a few years. I've always said, the whole thing with the Derby is experiencing the thrill of victory and there was none felt with getting a phone call saying you were placed first through a disqualification.
"So no, we definitely haven't felt like we've won a Derby."
Journey to the 2025 Derby
In addition to their unique place in Kentucky Derby history, Mott and Cox also share the privilege of not needing any other accolades in order to further amplify the impact of their careers.
Mott's status as an all-timer has long been cast in stone, the product of a patience, bond, and skillset with his equine proteges that defies conventional teachings.
Cox, 45, has already conditioned multiple champions, including a likely future Hall of Famer in Monomoy Girl and a Horse of the Year in 2021 honoree Knicks Go . It's only a matter of hitting the 25-year eligibility threshold before he likely has a plaque of his own in the Hall of Fame.
Fittingly, their respective entrants for this year's Kentucky Derby showcase many of the intangibles that have become each trainer's calling card.
A product of Godolphin's impeccable breeding program, Sovereignty showed Mott he had the look of a classic-type horse when he broke his maiden at Churchill Downs last October by five lengths in the Street Sense Stakes (G3) going 1 1/16-miles—a race that featured fellow Derby entrants Tiztastic and Sandman behind him. That Mott sent the late-running son of Into Mischief into a graded stakes despite the colt losing his first two starts was a tip of the hand into the level of confidence the trainer quietly held for the youngster.
"I think even his two maiden races were indicative of the fact he was going to be a nice horse," Mott said. "Now, look, it's a long ways to the Kentucky Derby, but even his fourth-place finish when he made his debut (at Saratoga) was very impressive in the way he finished and galloped out. He did the same thing in his second race and just got beat a (neck) by a pretty nice horse (Praetor) going seven-eighths of a mile. I guess we believed he was pretty nice, or we wouldn't have run him in the Street Sense as a maiden. And of course, then the longer distance in that race really suited him.
"I think we've been fortunate to come in every year with a horse that maybe fits the profile of a Derby horse and (Sovereignty) definitely does," Mott continued. "He won the Fountain of Youth, was second in the Florida Derby. We have as good a chance this year as we've ever had. I would say I'm at least at the same level of confidence as the year we had Tacitus and Country House."
When Cox was evaluating his potential Derby contenders early in the year, Final Gambit was admittedly not one he included in the forefront as the son of Not This Time began his career finishing third in a maiden special weight over the Churchill turf last November. The gray or roan colt was then shifted to Cox's base at Turfway Park where he thrived over the synthetic surface, culminating with a last-to-first 3 1/2-length victory in the Jeff Ruby Steaks.
The Churchill surface has historically played kindly to horses with turf form in their pedigree, as past Kentucky Derby winners Animal Kingdom (2011), Big Brown (2008), and Barbaro (2006) can attest. Cox himself also has quite the brilliant recent example of elevating a horse from his Turfway program into the sport's highest echelon as another Juddmonte homebred in Idiomatic came up through the Florence, Ky., oval before becoming the champion older dirt female in 2023 and 2024.
And if there was any salve for Cox the morning of April 26 when Tappan Street emerged from his workout with a condylar fracture, it was the way Final Gambit got over the Churchill dirt while breezing five furlongs in 1:01.
"(Final Gambit), he is flourishing, he's doing well," Cox said. "There is the question mark with the dirt but ... he's moving fantastic, his energy is through the roof in a positive way, not in a cheap way. He's shown a lot of class, and we love what we've seen from him at Churchill."
This Saturday, both Mott and Cox will make the walkover with the distinction of being able to look up at the signage of Derby winners in the paddock and seeing one of their own listed.
They would like to conclude the evening by, for the first time in their careers, gazing out over the Churchill Downs finish line and seeing one of their own ending the 1 1/4-mile journey in front.
"We're looking forward to hopefully someday, maybe (this year), winning it the right way," Cox said.
Mott added, "If you get lucky enough to win one of these things naturally, I would be elated and overjoyed. But I'm ready for anything."
