Sovereignty will skip Preakness, target Belmont Stakes

When Sovereignty runs in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 7, he will not be attempting to win the Triple Crown.

The connections of Sovereignty on Tuesday said they would skip the Preakness on May 17 and point to the Belmont, which for the second straight year will be run at Saratoga and at 1 1/4 miles, as opposed to its usual distance of 1 1/2 miles.

Bill Mott, the trainer of Sovereignty, said while the horse came out of the Kentucky Derby in good order, he believes the horse will benefit from more time between races.

“We want to give the horse more time and take a shot at the Belmont,” Mott said Tuesday. “I think the Triple Crown’s a great thing, it’s a huge challenge and any horse that does it is great. I don’t believe anybody in our camp feels strongly about doing it.”

Mott said Sovereignty, owned and bred by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin, was scheduled to leave Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning by van for Saratoga.

Mott and Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin, said Sunday morning that they were focused on the horse having a career and not so much the Triple Crown. One of the few races Mott has coveted to win is the Travers Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile race to be held on Aug. 23 at Saratoga.

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Mott said he is hopeful that Sovereignty could even race as a 4-year-old with perhaps a race like the Dubai World Cup, a race that Sheikh Mohammed basically created, as part of a 2026 campaign.

“I guess I’d love to extend his career a little past his 3-year-old year if that’s the decision the Godolphin team is going to make toward the end of the year,” Mott said. “Of course, we’ve got to make it to the end of the year.”

Sovereignty, a Godolphin homebred son of Into Mischief, won the Fountain of Youth on March 1 and was second in the Florida Derby on March 29 before his victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Rich Strike, in 2022, won the Kentucky Derby at odds of 80-1 and skipped the Preakness to run in the Belmont Stakes where he finished sixth. Rich Strike raced five more times after the Belmont but did not win.

Country House, who won the 2019 Derby via disqualifation for Mott, never raced again after that victory due to illness and later injury.

Justify, in 2018, was the last horse to win the Preakness after winning the Kentucky Derby and he would go on to sweep the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes. He was subsequently retired.

As far as this year’s Preakness goes, a decision is still pending regarding the participation of Kentucky Derby runner-up Journalism. Over the last six years, only one Derby runner-up has competed in the Preakness, that being Epicenter who finished second in the Preakness at 6-5.

Sovereignty’s defection is likely to attract more horses to the Preakness in the coming days. However, as of Tuesday, the field included American Promise, 16th in the Kentucky Derby, Clever Again, Gosger, Heart of Honor, Pay Billy, River Thames, and Rodriguez.

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