{"id":12321,"date":"2025-07-21T06:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T06:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/12321\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T06:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T06:48:09","slug":"kirkpatrick-co-presents-in-their-care-second-career-has-been-a-hell-of-a-ride-for-mott-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/12321\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirkpatrick & Co. Presents In Their Care: Second Career Has Been ‘A Hell Of A Ride’ For Mott Assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kirkpatrick & Co. Presents In Their Care: Second Career Has Been ‘A Hell Of A Ride’ For Mott Assistant<\/a> originally appeared on Paulick Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Neil Poznansky worked as a jockey and fell short in races, he often encouraged disappointed owners by telling them, \u201cWe\u2019ll get them next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, in his second career as an exercise rider and assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, he has come to understand that \u201cnext time\u201d is not guaranteed. Each start is precious, especially when it comes to a star such as Sovereignty.<\/p>\n

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Poznansky, 52, has played a critical role in the development of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, precisely executing Mott\u2019s instructions during works that have the Into Mischief colt on an upward trajectory heading into the $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) on June 26 at Saratoga Race Course.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes they peak and that\u2019s the top of their capabilities,\u201d Poznansky noted. \u201cIt just seems like he\u2019s developing every time and he might be growing, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, he\u2019s stronger. I think he\u2019s gotten bigger, more muscled. Mentally, he\u2019s gotten more into it. In the spring, his works were very lackluster. We knew what he was capable of. It was just bringing him along and getting him to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staff witnessed a master at work in the 71-year-old Mott\u2019s ability to elevate Sovereignty to the head of the 3-year-old class. \u201cThat\u2019s what Bill is great at. He just lets them develop. They\u2019ll develop in their time,\u201d Poznansky said.<\/p>\n

After the Derby, Mott emphasized the importance of having a strong team. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of everybody that had anything to do with getting the horse to this point, and it takes a lot of people,\u201d the trainer said. \u201cIt takes a family and it takes a community to get him ready, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poznansky, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, has been front and center on that team. He retired as a jockey in 2008. According to Equibase, he won 761 races with earnings of $15,669,892. He holds the distinction of being only the second person to sweep the Eclipse Award in the United States and the Sovereign Award in Canada as the leading apprentice, accomplishing that in 1996.<\/p>\n

Over time, his weight increased while his number of mounts decreased. For the sake of his health, he knew he had to transition to another career. He had been galloping horses for Mott and was enjoying their budding relationship. He walked into the trainer\u2019s office one day and told him, \u201cI\u2019m done. I\u2019d like to start learning how the barn runs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Mott gave generously of his time, neither imagined how important a role that moment would play. Good and great exercise riders are invaluable. Poznansky has been aboard many of the barn\u2019s finest runners \u2013 Grade 1 winners Elate and Flat Out, Hall of Famer Royal Delta, 2023 Horse of the Year Cody\u2019s Wish and two-time champion sprinter Elite Power.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m leaving some out, but it\u2019s one after another,\u201d the rider said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate that somebody always comes through to pick up the pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poznansky ranks Sovereignty among the great horses that have come through the barn during his time. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to put him right up on top with them. He\u2019s proven himself. He\u2019s improving as well,\u201d he said. \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit for him right now as far as I can see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Godolphin homebred\u2019s only off-the-board finish in seven lifetime starts occurred in his Aug. 24 debut at Saratoga Race Course. Regular rider Junior Alvarado needed to coax him from the starting gate; the youngster left himself with too much to do in finishing fourth.<\/p>\n

Overall, Sovereignty owns four victories with a pair of runner-up efforts for earnings of $4,872,800. If he can add the Jim Dandy and the Aug. 23 Travers to his laurels, he would almost surely lock up the Eclipse Award as the leading 3-year-old male. He also would be a formidable Horse of the Year candidate entering the Nov. 1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic at Del Mar.<\/p>\n

In a sign of how far Sovereignty has come, Poznansky was particularly impressed when he was aboard for a July 4 workout in which they traveled four furlongs in :48.99 seconds in company with 4-year-old graded stakes-placed Jefferson Street at Saratoga\u2019s Oklahoma Training Track.<\/p>\n

\"Neil<\/p>\n

Neil Poznansky (left) helps lead Sovereighty into the Saratoga winner’s circleWalter Wlodarczyk&sol;NYRA photo<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like he was galloping around there and his workmate was no slouch,\u201d the rider said. \u201cEvery time he tried to get near him, he pulled away from him like it was nothing. He\u2019s just developing more and more. It\u2019s really fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poznansky also enjoys his role as an assistant. \u201cI see all the work and effort and time that everybody puts in from the hotwalkers to the grooms, myself, Bill, everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Poznansky thought back to the day he asked Mott for an opportunity. \u201cI just wanted to do the job. I had no expectations. I really had no idea what I was in for,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s been a hell of a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Jul 21, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kirkpatrick & Co. Presents In Their Care: Second Career Has Been ‘A Hell Of A Ride’ For Mott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[8095,8089,8096,8094,8090,8088,3004,8091,8092,101,8093,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-12321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-belmont-stakes-winner","9":"tag-bill-mott","10":"tag-critical-role","11":"tag-exercise-rider","12":"tag-jim-dandy","13":"tag-neil-poznansky","14":"tag-racing","15":"tag-saratoga-race-course","16":"tag-sovereignty","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-the-kentucky-derby","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}