SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The fresh 3-year-old - and now undoubtedly the best 3-year-old - won the Belmont Stakes. Sovereignty, who beat Journalism by 1 1/2 lengths in the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago at Churchill Downs, was purposely held out of the Preakness two weeks later by his connections to point to the Belmont. Sovereignty delivered a performance on Saturday at Saratoga that was even better than in Louisville, running away from Journalism, the Preakness winner, in the final furlong, to win the Belmont by three decisive lengths. Journalism, who two weeks ago won the Preakness in dramatic fashion and went off as the 2-1 Belmont favorite, had to settle for second again, 3 1/2 lengths over Baeza, who finished a fast-closing third in the Kentucky Derby. Rodriguez, the Wood Memorial winner who set the pace in the Belmont, finished fourth and was followed by Hill Road, Heart of Honor, Uncaged and Crudo. Naturally, after winning the Derby and Belmont, but skipping the Preakness, Sovereignty’s connections - owner/breeder Godolphin Racing and trainer Bill Mott - were asked if they had any regrets about not attempting to win the Triple Crown. There were none. “I’m happy we won the Derby and I’m happy we won the Belmont and that’s what we focused on,” said Mott, who won his second Belmont, the first coming in 2010 with Drosselmeyer. “We make our decision and we don’t look back. Whether they’re good or they’re bad, you’ve got to be bold enough to stand up for what you want to do and what you believe in and you make the decision …. Look, if we had gotten beat today, we would have had to live with our decision. I’m not going to second-guess what we did.” Michael Banahan, Godolphin’s USA director of bloodstock, said skipping the Preakness was the “right way to go for the horse” with goals such as the Travers on Aug. 23 and the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 as targets for the remainder of this year and potentially a 4-year-old campaign. “There is justification in what we did to come here because we won the Belmont,” Banahan said in the Saratoga winner’s circle. “So, that’s for other people to figure out whether we should or shouldn’t do things. We were quite comfortable to do what we wanted to for the horse. You saw the performance today. I don’t think there’s anyone here today who would say that didn’t work for him, to show what he did today in the Belmont. He has improved again and showed what a brilliant racehorse he is. I think we did the right thing.” Journalism’s connections noted that Sovereignty being fresh obviously helped his cause, but they had no regrets about running in all three legs of the Triple Crown, sandwiching two runner-up finishes around a Preakness victory. “You’d have to think anytime a horse of his caliber gets five weeks between races [helps],” Michael McCarthy, trainer of Journalism, said. “But they chose to do what was best for their horse, we chose to do what was best for ours, second-best on the day.” Like she did in the Kentucky Derby, Mother Nature tried to wreak havoc on the Belmont Stakes. In roughly a 24-hour period, 2.24 inches of rain fell in Saratoga, not ending till around noon Saturday. It prompted New York Racing Association officials to move four scheduled turf races to the dirt while postponing two Grade 1 stakes - the Jaipur and Manhattan - to Sunday. The weather might have kept the crowd down a little, though attendance was announced at 46,423. The track began the day as sloppy and sealed and gradually improved to the point where track maintenance harrowed the track at the middle of the card. By the time the Belmont went off, at 7:09 p.m., the track was good - the designation in the Equibase chart - bordering on fast. The Belmont ran pretty much as expected with Rodriguez, under Mike Smith, going to the lead, and Crudo, under John Velazquez, stalking him from second through an opening half-mile of 47.60 seconds. Down the backside, Sovereignty, under Junior Alvarado, and Journalism, ridden by Umberto Rispoli, were racing side by side, Journalism on the outside. Going into the far turn Journalism began to make a three-wide move around the turn while Alvarado was content to let him get the jump on him. Alvarado said, like the Kentucky Derby, he wanted Sovereignty to have a target to run at in the stretch. “I know he likes to fight, he likes to see what he’s supposed to do, that’s what I did turning for home, make sure I follow him a little bit, put him in the clear again,” said Alvarado, who won his first Belmont. “Just like he did in the Derby, he went by again. Today, he was very exceptional. I couldn’t believe how much horse I had the whole way around today.” Sovereignty, a son of Into Mischief, ran away from Journalism inside the eighth pole and completed the 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.69 (109 Beyer Speed Figure). He returned $7 as the second choice behind Journalism, the 2-1 favorite. He is the first Kentucky Derby winner who didn’t also win the Preakness to win the Belmont since Thunder Gulch in 1995. That horse ran third in the Preakness. Journalism bobbled shortly after the start, but Rispoli said it played no role in the outcome of the race. Rispoli said he felt Journalism had the same energy he had in the Derby and Preakness and this time got a clean trip. When Sovereignty confronted him, Journalism could not respond. “The only thing I can tell you is I got beat by a fresh horse because I was running down the lane and Junior just came by me easy and fast,” Rispoli said. “He had five weeks to recover, but there is no excuse today. Obviously, I would say the fresh horse won, but it’s a great horse, he beat me already, so he beat me twice.” Baeza, ridden by Flavien Prat, wasn’t as competitive as many expected. While he did rally for third, he was beaten 6 1/2 lengths. “I was very happy with where I was down the backside, but as I tried to get going by the far turn, I just wasn’t going anywhere,” Prat said. “It took him a long time to get going, then he made a run but I don’t think he was going to beat those two.” And, for the second time in five weeks, no one was beating Sovereignty. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.