The late mare Crowned, dam of 2025 Horse of the Year Sovereignty, was honored as Kentucky’s Broodmare of the Year as the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) presented their annual awards on April 10 in Lexington, Ky. The Broodmare of the Year award, first presented in 1946, is the oldest of the KTOB awards, and considered one of the most prestigious accomplishments in Thoroughbred bloodstock. Crowned, by Bernardini and out of the Grade 1-winning Empire Maker mare Mushka, was bred in Pennsylvania by Brushwood Stable, and was purchased for $1.2 million at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation. Crowned was unraced, and produced four foals prior to her death in 2024. She produced Jane Grey, by Into Mischief, in 2018. The filly won once from seven career starts in the Godolphin blue. Another Into Mischief filly, Misintention, followed in 2020. In eight starts, she had one second and two thirds. Crowned produced the Into Mischief colt Sovereignty in 2022, and then a final foal, the Nyquist colt Royal Conquest, in 2024 prior to her death. Sovereignty, trained by Bill Mott, has won six of nine starts, with all his wins coming in graded stakes. Last year, he gave Godolphin its long-sought first Kentucky Derby victory. He followed with additional top-level wins in the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes, and was voted Horse of the Year, as well as outstanding 3-year-old male. In tandem, Godolphin swept the Eclipse Awards as outstanding owner and outstanding breeder for the fifth consecutive year, and Mott earned the Eclipse as outstanding trainer. Along with Crowned being named Broodmare of the Year at the KTOB awards, Sovereignty was honored as the KTOB’s Kentucky-bred horse of the year and outstanding 3-year-old male, while Godolphin was honored with the P.A.B. Widener Trophy for KTOB breeder of the year. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “She was a lovely mare,” Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin, said of Crowned. “Unfortunately, she’s gone now, but she left us behind one of the best horses we’ve ever had. So she did exceptionally well in a short period of time. And we’ve one more foal out of her as a 2-year-old this year. So hopefully, maybe, we can get lucky again.” Crowned became the third member of Godolphin’s U.S. broodmare band to be honored as Broodmare of the Year. Cara Rafaela earned the honor in 2006, after her son Bernardini became the outfit’s first U.S. classic winner in the Preakness Stakes and went on to an Eclipse Award championship, and then a decorated stallion career under the Godolphin banner. In 2023, Dance Card, the dam of Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish, was named Broodmare of the Year. Crowned continues to deepen the legacy of the late Bernardini as a phenomenal broodmare sire, another point of pride for Sheikh Mohammed’s operation. Bernardini’s daughters have produced more than 80 stakes winners worldwide, including Eclipse Award champion Immersive, Sovereign Award champion Gretzky the Great, Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress, this year’s Dubai World Cup winner Magnitude, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos, and U.S. Grade 1 winners Catholic Boy, Chancer McPatrick, Clairiere, Colonel Liam, Dunbar Road, Du Jour, Hunter O’Riley, La Cara, Matareya, Maxfield, Mo Town, Paris Lights, Speaker’s Corner, and Wicked Whisper. Along with Sovereignty returning to the races in Saturday’s Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, and Crowned’s final foal, Royal Conquest, beginning his career as a 2-year-old this season, the Godolphin operation can look forward to foals out of Crowned’s daughters Jane Grey and Misintention entering the fray. “Hopefully that’ll be the case, two nice daughters,” Banahan said. “Maybe they can continue the legacy.” Jane Grey’s first foal is Claim the Throne, a 2-year-old filly by stalwart in-house stallion Medaglia d’Oro. Next in the pipeline, the mare has a Medaglia d’Oro yearling filly. She was bred to Nyquist this season. Misintention was barren when bred for her first season, and was bred to Nyquist for what would be her first foal this season. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.