Mott Joins Exclusive Company With Fifth Eclipse Award

It's hard to imagine in a career such as Bill Mott's that there are many things that would put the Hall of Fame trainer into more rarified air. But with his latest achievement—a fifth Eclipse award—he continues to elevate his status among the all-time greats. With five Eclipse wins, Mott ties Bobby Frankel and Chad Brown for the second-most and is three behind Todd Pletcher's record eight. Mott said such an honor is "humbling." He previously won the award in 1995, 1996, 2011, and 2023. Mott's 2025 by the numbers might not seem as impressive as other trainers, but when viewed through the prism of having hundreds fewer starts than the other award finalists, 2025 is another standout year for Mott. He had 106 wins, which ranked 27th overall, but 14 of those ahead of him had more starts; he was sixth in earnings ($17,165,020); and among trainers with at least 100 starts, he was fifth in earnings per start ($25,929). Any discussion of his year begins with Godolphin's Sovereignty. The son of Into Mischief went 5-1-0 before being scratched ahead of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Among his four graded victories were the Kentucky Derby (G1), the Belmont Stakes (G1), and the Travers Stakes (G1). With that came nearly $5.7 million in earnings. But Mott's barn was not a one-trick pony. He also conditioned millionaire Scylla, who secured Mott's 16th Breeders' Cup triumph when she crossed the wire first in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). It was her only win of the year, but she almost always hit the board (1-2-2 in six starts) en route to $1,336,750 in earnings. Despite the lack of visits to the winner's circle in 2025, Mott recognized that Scylla had been "knocking on the door" all year. "That was the icing on the cake for her career, her going-away present to us," Mott said of the Juddmonte homebred. "She really put in a spectacular race, and we had a kind of gut feeling that we might see that. "She went out to California and trained super out there and had a brilliant work and repeated that work on race day." Mott described the daughter of Tapit as "very brilliant" that afternoon at Del Mar. "She was certainly clearly the best of that group on that particular day. … We always felt and hoped that she'd had a race in her like that, and she showed up on the right day." And now the right day belongs to Mott, who earned his latest Eclipse Award, which is "icing on the cake" for his phenomenal year.