INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Unlike a year ago, trainer Bill Mott does not have a wish list of races in which he’d like to run Sovereignty in 2026. Okay, maybe one. “I’d like to make the Breeders’ Cup Classic at the end of the year and whatever makes any kind of sense in between,” Mott said the day before Sovereignty was crowned 2025 Horse of the Year and 3-year-old champion male at Thursday’s Eclipse Awards ceremony at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. In 2025, Sovereignty hit all of Mott’s targets – the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers – before he had to be scratched three days before the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar due to a fever. Mott watched Forever Young win the BC Classic, a result that might actually have enhanced Sovereignty’s bid to become Horse of the Year. Had say Sierra Leone won the Classic – he finished second – a case could have been made for him to win that award. Mott also believes missing the Classic may have been the impetus for Godolphin, the colt’s owner and breeder, to bring Sovereignty back as a 4-year-old. “If he would have won the Breeders’ Cup it would have been more difficult to bring him back for a lot of different reasons,” said Mott, acknowledging Sovereignty’s potential value as a stallion prospect. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Sovereignty helped Mott win his fifth Eclipse Award as leading trainer and Godolphin its sixth straight as leading owner and fifth straight as leading breeder. Sovereignty is galloping daily at Payson Park, having arrived there on Jan. 3. Mott said Sovereignty is “a couple of weeks away” from his first workout and that there is no race circled for his seasonal debut. One thing for certain, Sovereignty is not going to Dubai for the $12 million World Cup on March 28 because he won’t be ready by then. Sovereignty hasn’t raced since the Travers on Aug. 23. Where Sovereignty gets started is in flux. However, his summer schedule could include races like the Whitney and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Interestingly enough, Mott said he was contacted earlier this week by New York Racing Association officials who sought his opinion about potentially moving the Jockey Club Gold Cup back to Belmont Park and running it when the track reopens on Sept. 18 or 19. That would be approximately six weeks from the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. “They asked my opinion. I said it’d be perfect . . . it gives you six weeks from the Whitney, it’s six weeks to the Breeders Cup, what better prep?” Mott said. “Now, everybody wants a little more time going to the Breeders’ Cup, they want a little more time coming out of the Whitney. I mean I think it’s perfect. “Funny enough, I gave them my opinion without even thinking I had a horse for it,” Mott said in all seriousness. “I mean, he was asking about the placement of races and I said it makes perfect sense.” It does make sense. It would potentially be a great way to christen the new Belmont Park, which is slated to open this fall. The Jockey Club Gold Cup, with the exception of 14 runnings between 1959-74, had been run at Belmont Park before the 1 1/4-mile race was moved to Saratoga in 2021. While a NYRA official confirmed there is talk about moving the Jockey Club Gold Cup back to Belmont, it is far from a done deal. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Sovereignty’s last three wins in 2025 all came at 1 1/4 miles, the horse usually separating himself from the competition in the final furlong of the race. Races at that distance aren’t as readily available, though NYRA has the Grade 2 Suburban, which has been run the last three years at Saratoga, twice in early July and once during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The significance of bringing a Horse of the Year back to the races is not lost on Mott, who in 1995-96 guided Cigar through two consecutive Horse of the Year campaigns. Since then, only two have won back-to-back Horse of the Year titles – Wise Dan (2012-13) and Curlin (2007-08). California Chrome was Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016. “It means you don’t want to make any mistakes,” Mott said. “That they’ve made the decision and they’re taking the gamble of putting him back into training, there’s a little more pressure, a responsibility, a feeling that you want to come back “and be able to perform well. I just don’t want to mess anything up.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.