From the Bullring to the Breeders’ Cup: A ‘Tremendous Experience’ for Sovereignty’s Work Rider, Mott Assistant Poznansky

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In his opening remarks during this year's Kentucky Derby post-race news conference, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott paid tribute to the entire team behind the brilliant Sovereignty (Into Mischief).

“I'm so proud of everybody that had anything to do with getting this horse to this point and it takes a lot of people,” Mott said. “It takes a family, and it takes a community to get him ready, really.”

Neil Poznansky, the regular morning work partner for the nation's top 3-year-old, has been with Mott as an assistant for more than 15 years. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, the 52-year-old was the champion apprentice jockey in both the U.S. and Canada in 1996.

“I started out in Western Canada, which was Northlands and Stampede at the time, and from there I went over to Vancouver,” Poznansky said. “Starting on the bullring, it's a different style of riding–you have to ride a little tighter going into the turns. As a young rider, I knew where to be and where not be and how to ride things a little differently. I started with a bunch of good people out west in those small tracks. There's a lot of good memories out there.”

There were plenty of good memories for Poznansky at Woodbine, too. He won the 1999 GII King Edward Breeders' Cup H. aboard Desert Waves and the 2000 GIII Nassau S. with Heliotrope. Poznansky rode 761 winners from 5,861 starters, good for career earnings of $15,669,892, according to Equibase. He retired as a jockey in 2008.

Neil Poznansky keeping a close eye on Sovereignty earlier this summer at the Spa | Sarah Andrew

“The last race I rode I won for David Carroll at Ellis Park,” Poznansky said. “I was struggling with my weight a little bit and not riding a lot. I remember it had to be about 110 degrees with humidity, you know how hot it can get down there. I won by a nose and rode my butt off. And I come back and didn't have a drop of sweat on me! I said, 'You know what? This is it.' I called my dad on the drive home and said, 'I'm done.'”

Poznansky, paused, then added, “And Bill also happened to be in town.”

Bill, of course, is Bill Mott.

Poznansky met Mott working as an exercise rider at Payson Park during racing's off season in Canada.

“I was getting on some of his horses at the time that were gonna be going into the Kentucky Derby, so he set me up with an agent at Churchill and he sent his horses there,” Poznansky said. “I would get on his horses, breeze them, that kind of stuff, but I couldn't really get rolling as a rider there.”

Having spent some time around Leana Willaford and Kenny McCarthy–both are still two of Mott's top assistants–Poznansky admired the way Mott's operation was run.

“I just started hanging around and eventually the position opened up and he gave me a shot,” Poznansky said. “It's been a tremendous experience and it's been a great lifestyle for me.

“Being able to work for Bill, I'm in the spots where he is all the time. He's at Saratoga, I'm at Saratoga. I'm at Payson, he's at Payson. I get to work with him every day. Some of the things that he sees and does, it's almost every day he'll be watching a horse train and I can't see what he sees. Just his eye and all his knowledge.”

Poznansky continued, “When I was riding and if you screwed up the race or something went wrong, I'd say, 'We'll get 'em next time.' Now, being on the other end of it, there's just so much that goes into it with every horse. I didn't know when I was riding just how much.”

Sovereignty, with Jimmy Quispe up, accompanied to the Oklahoma training track by Bill Mott assistant
Neil Poznansky earlier this morning pic.twitter.com/cCNo4B3JK5

— Steve Sherack (@SteveSherackTDN) October 11, 2025

Sovereignty fired a five-furlong warning shot beneath Poznansky in a bullet :59.80 after the break over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Sunday. It was his second straight move in company with his 3-year-old stablemate Playa Del Mar (Into Mischief), a last-out maiden winner at Ellis Park Aug. 22.

The imposing GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI Travers Stakes winner will take on older horses for the first time in the upcoming GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 1.

“His record speaks for itself,” Poznansky said. “When I put him on the van at Payson for the Derby, I was certain he was gonna win. He's just big and athletic and oozes class. He's got nerves of steel. He'll get pumped up in the paddock. But not in a bad way. He knows what it means when you get Junior (Alvarado) on. He's very smart and all racehorse. He's pretty special.”

As dominating as Sovereignty has been this season, could we possibly see another forward move from him in the Classic?

“I tell 'ya what,” Poznansky said. “Watching him train, going by every day. He's impressive. He possibly could. I don't see anything in him right now that says that he's not gonna move forward.”

Godolphin's Michael Banahan and Neil Poznansky (center) celebrate Sovereignty's win in the Travers | Tod Marks

Some of Poznansky's former star pupils and personal favorites from the Mott barn include: Close Hatches, Cody's Wish, Elate, Elite Power, Flat Out, Lea and Royal Delta.

Sovereignty and the popular 2023 Horse of the Year and young Darley sire Cody's Wish are both homebreds for Godolphin.

“I think Bill is lucky to have him there,” Godolphin USA Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan said of Poznansky. “He was a very good rider in his own right, an Eclipse Award-winning apprentice, and being to able to have someone to draw on with his experience is a great comfort. If Neil comes back and is happy with the way a horse has breezed, everyone's happy.”

Banahan added, “Bill has surrounded himself with a lot of talented people–Neil, Kenny (McCarthy), Leana (Willaford)–and they all do a tremendous job. He has a very talented team.”

Like Mott said on the first Saturday in May, it takes a family.

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