Tom Amoss
Tom Amoss has been training horses since 1987 and has banked nearly $87 million in purses, winning over 3,200 races in about 12,600 tries.
An LSU grad, he started his career in Louisiana and has had his most success on that circuit. Mo Tom will be the fifth horse he will have saddled for the Kentucky Derby.
His first Derby charge was Lone Star Sky (2003), who finished 15th in the race won by Funny Cide. Since then, he has sent Backtalk (20th, 2010), Mylute (5th, 2013), and War Story (16th, 2015) to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
Despite having won 25 major stakes races, Amoss’ best finish in a Triple Crown came in 2013, when Mylute finished third. Amoss trained Ron the Greek as a two- and three-year-old, but the horse never made it to the Derby after back-to-back sixth place finishes in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby in 2010.
In 2014, Amoss had his best year as a trainer in terms of wins, finishing in the top-10 in North America (ninth with 198 victories).
He started Mo Tom’s career on Sept. 5 of last year in a maiden special weight race at Ellis Park, in which the heavily-favored colt won by a neck.
The son of Uncle Mo sneaks into the Derby after the defection of Cupid — thanks to the points he earned in winning the Grade III LeComte at Fair Grounds in his first 2016 start. Mo Tom went on to finish a troubled third in the Risen Star and also experienced trouble in the Louisiana Derby, in which he finished fourth (both contests were won by Gun Runner).
Amoss would love to add a Kentucky Derby win to his impressive resume.
Click HERE for current odds to win the 2016 Kentucky Derby.
