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Another Mott - Riley - ready for his Kentucky Derby debut as a trainer

Another Mott - Riley - ready for his Kentucky Derby debut as a trainer
I With I. Some. Have you ever been? If you're getting home. Yeah.
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Updated: 4:41 PM EDT Apr 28, 2026
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Another Mott - Riley - ready for his Kentucky Derby debut as a trainer
WLKY logo
Updated: 4:41 PM EDT Apr 28, 2026
Editorial Standards
Trainer Riley Mott has seen the Kentucky Derby up close and personal.Mott is the son of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who won the Derby in 2019 with Country House via a disqualification and last year with Sovereignty. He’s been around his father at Churchill Downs for many Derby day moments.Now, the 34-year-old Mott is making his Derby debut.Riley Mott has two horses - Virginia Derby winner Incredibolt and Wood Memorial winner Albus - entered in Saturday’s Run for the Roses. Albus will break from the No. 2 post position and is 30-1, while Incredibolt is 20-1 and will break from the No. 11 position.“It’s a dream come true,” Riley Mott said. “This is something that I have been dreaming about and thinking about since I was seven or eight years old, when I got a passion for this game. Just to be here and in the moment is something I don’t want to take for granted.“I know I could go a lifetime without sniffing the Kentucky Derby again. People work their whole lives to sometimes not even come up with a Derby prospect. So we are very fortunate and humbled by it. But yes, it’s nice to be a part of it.”Riley Mott, who obviously grew up around the racetrack, spent nine years as an assistant under his father and went out on his own in 2022. He noted that he had experience with “high-level horses” around his father’s barn, and that’s helped him in his young career.“I had a pretty good blueprint,” Riley said with a smile. “We’ve been able to build a good team, so I am not surprised that we have executed as we have, but we are still very humbled and, as I said, we know not to take this for granted.”Bill Mott is a Hall of Fame trainer and has just 14 Derby starters. But he will make it 15 this year with Chief Wallabee, who will break from post position No. 12 - one spot outside of Riley’s Incredibolt.The father joked that there are “no free lunches” in the Derby for his son.“No, he’s doing good,” Bill said of his son. “He’s doing great, and two have two horses in the Derby is quite an accomplishment just to get them there. I hope that all goes well, and I do hope we have to face off on Derby day.”The Motts will become just the second father-son duo to train horses in the same Derby. The only previous duo was Red Wingfield and Bobby Wingfield's 1964 race, when Dandy K (trained by father Red) finished eighth, and Wil Rad (saddled by son Bobby) was 10th. “I’m always rooting for him, and he’s always rooting for me,” Riley Mott said of his father. “But we’re doing this to win. So, when we face off against each other, sure I want to beat him, and he wants to beat me.“I’ve been privileged to grow up around the barn, learn everything from him, and watch him. He’s the ultimate competitor, and he’s won a couple of Derbies. Now, I am just hoping that it’s our turn.”

Trainer Riley Mott has seen the Kentucky Derby up close and personal.

Mott is the son of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who won the Derby in 2019 with Country House via a disqualification and last year with Sovereignty. He’s been around his father at Churchill Downs for many Derby day moments.

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Now, the 34-year-old Mott is making his Derby debut.

Riley Mott has two horses - Virginia Derby winner Incredibolt and Wood Memorial winner Albus - entered in Saturday’s Run for the Roses. Albus will break from the No. 2 post position and is 30-1, while Incredibolt is 20-1 and will break from the No. 11 position.

“It’s a dream come true,” Riley Mott said. “This is something that I have been dreaming about and thinking about since I was seven or eight years old, when I got a passion for this game. Just to be here and in the moment is something I don’t want to take for granted.

“I know I could go a lifetime without sniffing the Kentucky Derby again. People work their whole lives to sometimes not even come up with a Derby prospect. So we are very fortunate and humbled by it. But yes, it’s nice to be a part of it.”

Riley Mott, who obviously grew up around the racetrack, spent nine years as an assistant under his father and went out on his own in 2022. He noted that he had experience with “high-level horses” around his father’s barn, and that’s helped him in his young career.

“I had a pretty good blueprint,” Riley said with a smile. “We’ve been able to build a good team, so I am not surprised that we have executed as we have, but we are still very humbled and, as I said, we know not to take this for granted.”

Bill Mott is a Hall of Fame trainer and has just 14 Derby starters. But he will make it 15 this year with Chief Wallabee, who will break from post position No. 12 - one spot outside of Riley’s Incredibolt.

The father joked that there are “no free lunches” in the Derby for his son.

“No, he’s doing good,” Bill said of his son. “He’s doing great, and two have two horses in the Derby is quite an accomplishment just to get them there. I hope that all goes well, and I do hope we have to face off on Derby day.”

The Motts will become just the second father-son duo to train horses in the same Derby. The only previous duo was Red Wingfield and Bobby Wingfield's 1964 race, when Dandy K (trained by father Red) finished eighth, and Wil Rad (saddled by son Bobby) was 10th.

“I’m always rooting for him, and he’s always rooting for me,” Riley Mott said of his father. “But we’re doing this to win. So, when we face off against each other, sure I want to beat him, and he wants to beat me.

“I’ve been privileged to grow up around the barn, learn everything from him, and watch him. He’s the ultimate competitor, and he’s won a couple of Derbies. Now, I am just hoping that it’s our turn.”

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