Defending Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) returned to the work tab Friday morning at Saratoga, breezing four furlongs in :49.40 over the training track. With his horse having passed that test, trainer Bill Mott declared that he is confident that Sovereignty will make it to the Oct. 31 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland.It was his first workout since Aug. 28, a move that was supposed to prepare him for the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. Instead, Mott was forced to miss the race due to a hoof abscess.“It was a nice work, very normal,” Mott said. “It was his first one back in a while, but it went very smoothly. He looked good all the way on the bridle the whole way. But the main thing was that he looked like he was traveling well and (assistant trainer and exercise rider) Neil (Poznansky) thought he went very well. He was surprised he went even in :49. He said he just felt like he was galloping.”Mott said that he is still working on the foot issue“I don't know how you could say it's 100% because he's got a protective patch on it,” he said. “I wouldn't word it 100%, but I think it's doing very well. We've got a fiberglass or acrylic patch, whatever it is, on it. Everything has been very quiet since we've had that. It seems like it's supporting everything very fine and he's handling it well and it hasn't been an issue since we've had that on him.”Mott doesn't have a lot of time to get Sovereignty back to his best for the Classic, which will be held 36 days after Friday's workout, but the Hall of Fame trainer is confident that his champion will be there and will be at his very best.“We're going to the Breeders' Cup Classic,” he said. “If he keeps working okay, okay, great…that's what we want. Yes, absolutely, that's the goal and when we get there every morning that's what we've got our sights on. So, hopefully, everything keeps going smoothly from this point on and that's where we plan to go and that's where we'd like to go. I think if our training schedule doesn't get interrupted again and there are no soundness issues and he's healthy, we've got plenty of time to get some useful works in him. So naturally, it's day-to-day with any horse, but hopefully we can just move forward and we should be able to get enough in him if we don't have any more setbacks.”The post Sovereignty Returns To The Work Tab, Mott Says The Classic Is A Go appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.