As he watched Majestic Warrior step onto the track for the Grade 1, $250,000 Hopeful Stakes, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott could not help thinking a victory would be a great way to cap off the 139th Saratoga Race Course meet.

Mott, who clinched his ninth training title days earlier, had never won the Spa’s most prestigious race for two-year-olds. Indeed, the last time he even saddled a horse in the seven-furlong race was in 1991, when eventual turf champion Paradise Creek finished fourth. And while most of the pre-race attention had focused on the more experienced Sanford Stakes winner, Ready’s Image, a winner of three of four, and the flashy Maimonides, an 11 ½-length maiden winner earlier in the meet, Mott felt pretty good about his chances.

As expected, Maimonides, under substitute jockey Kent Desormeaux, went right to the front, ripping through fractions of :22.60 and :45.00 as John Velazquez kept 3-5 favorite Ready’s Image well within striking range, never more than a length and a half behind. Moving up to challenge the pacesetter on turn, Ready’s Image grabbed the lead straightening for home, edging clear midway through the stretch and seemingly on his way to victory.

But Majestic Warrior, under Garrett Gomez, was not to be denied. Under vigorous right-handed urging, the son of A.P. Indy steadily closed the gap and surged to the front inside the eighth pole, going on to win by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:23.04. Maimonides was another 3 ¼ lengths back, with Georgetown bringing up the rear.

“I can’t tell you what an exciting thing this is for me,” said Mott, who finished with 27 winners. “I think I’ve run one horse in this race. I ran Paradise Creek in here, and he turned out to be a turf champion. Words can’t describe (the meet). This really tops it off. It doesn’t get much better than this.”

“We knew that Johnny (Velazquez on Ready’s Image) wasn’t going to let Maimonides go out on his own,” he added. “Leaving the half-mile pole, I thought they had gotten away from our horse. At that point, I was wondering if he would be able to make up that kind of ground. He put in a tremendous run, and he has to be a good horse to make up that kind of ground. He was 10 out of it when they turned for home, and he rolled by them. He ran very professionally the first time. He’s the perfect student. You can’t ask for a nicer, better horse to train.”

Said Gomez, who took over from Velazquez as he earned back-to-back Hopeful wins: “After three-eighths of a mile, I had to squeeze him. Some of his greenness was showing. I just tried to give him some confidence. It worked out for us. He’s a nice colt. Class exudes out of him.”

Neither Todd Pletcher, trainer of the Ready’s Image, nor Bob Baffert, who saddled Maimonides, were disappointed with their colts’ performances.

“When you are in a situation where you have two horses to beat and one of them has speed and the other comes from way back, you have a decision to make,” said Pletcher. “We wanted to keep (Maimonides) honest. He has a tendency to hesitate when he makes the lead. Today, when he got there and the other horse fell off, I think he got to wandering around a little bit. The winner had a nice setup. We were involved in the pace and he was way off it. He ran by us and we didn’t have time to regroup.”

“He got tired,” said Baffert, who had tabbed Hall of Famer Desormeaux to replace Rafael Bajarano after the jockey was injured in the starting gate earlier in the day. “There is a big jump going to seven furlongs. I was hoping things would be easier on the front end. Once Ready’s Image stayed with us, I knew it would be tough.”

Owned by Kinsman Stable, Majestic Warrior, who is out of the multiple Grade 1 stakes winner Dream Supreme, is expected to take his 2-for-2 record back to Belmont Park for a fall campaign.

“Obviously, he proved today that he can handle the best colts we have on the East Coast,” said Mott of Majestic Warrior, who earned $150,000 for the victory. “Probably, the logical step is to look at the Champagne (Grade 1, $400,000, one mile, October 6, Belmont Park).”