Sovereignty goes last to first in Street Sense

It was a coming-out party for some of the powerful Godolphin stable’s young stars on Sunday, as homebreds carrying the outfit’s blue swept the stakes that were co-features on the “Stars of Tomorrow” opening-day program at Churchill Downs.

Sovereignty ($4.86), trained by Bill Mott for Godolphin, captured the Grade 3, $200,000 Street Sense Stakes. One race prior, Good Cheer ($3.48) took the sister race, the $200,000 Rags to Riches Stakes, for Brad Cox. The races awarded the top finishing points toward the 2025 Kentucky Derby and Oaks, respectively, on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.

Sovereignty came in to the Street Sense as a maiden, but was coming out of two solid races. He was fourth on debut at Saratoga behind Tip Top Thomas, subsequently Grade 1-placed; then was second by a neck at Aqueduct to the well-regarded Praetor. Both those starts came around one turn.

On Sunday, with Junior Alvarado in the irons, Sovereignty was last of nine following the opening six furlongs of the 1 1/16-mile race, behind an opening split of 1:12.52 clocked by longshot Bracket Buster, under pressure from Dapper Moon. Sovereignty made a sweeping move on the far turn to come to contention six wide at the quarter pole, and appeared to relish the extra distance, taking command and winning by five widening lengths.

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He finished the 1 1/16 miles in a stakes-record 1:43.86, bettering King Fury’s mark of 1:44.20 from 2020.

“When I turned for home, I just showed him the road and he took off,” Alvarado said. “Things are coming together with his development. I think as the distances get longer, they will not be a problem for him.”

Tiztastic was second, a neck ahead of Sandman, who edged Dapper Moon by a head to complete the trifecta.

Sovereignty, by leading sire Into Mischief, is out of the Bernardini mare Crowned, who Godolphin purchased as a yearling.

Good Cheer remained unbeaten in three starts by winning the Rags to Riches, with those three wins coming by a combined 30 lengths.

“She’s shown a lot of talent in just three starts,” Cox said. “Today was obviously a new test trying stakes company for the first time. She handled being behind horses very well.”

The favored daughter of in-house stallion Medaglia d’Oro rounded the far turn of Sunday’s race in a perfect outside tracking position under Luis Saez. She easily overhauled second choice Claire’s Charm in the stretch and widened to the wire to score by 4 3/4 lengths. Claire’s Charm was a clear second, 4 1/2 lengths clear of Sherbini.

The time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:44.

Good Cheer is out of Godolphin’s Grade 1-winning homebred Wedding Toast, by Street Sense.

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