Bill Mott has taken over the training of Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II) winner Adriano and likely will point the son of A.P. Indy for races on the grass, where he’s two for four with one second.
Adriano won three of eight career starts for Graham Motion, who saddled the colt to a 2 1/2-length victory in the Lane’s End, run over Polytrack at Turfway Park. The colt also won an allowance race on grass at Gulfstream Park by 6 3/4 lengths.
“He took all 12 of his horses away,” Motion said of owner Don Adam of Courtlandt Farms, who also bred Adriano. “It’s very disappointing, but I’m starting to recover. I’ll be sick for a while watching all the horses run in big stakes. We’ve won 19 stakes for him in the last few years, including the Arlington Matron (gr. III) with Indescribable on May 26. It’s a funny old game. It was rough on the stable; some of the crew were in tears. But, it’s happened to all of us.”
Edgar Prado selected Adriano as his mount in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) over Toyota Blue Grass (gr. I) winner Monba and Wood Memorial (gr. I) winner Tale of Ekati, on whom he was aboard for their big wins. Part of his reason was loyalty to Motion, whom he rode for in Maryland for many years. The colt had to take up early in the Derby and faded badly, finishing 19th of 20 starters.
Mott’s two Derby starters, Court Vision and Z Humor, finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
