Sovereignty's Whitney triumph restores reputation
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Morning training had finished, the last workers were being bathed and put away and many of the other horses had their heads buried in their feed tubs.
A few yards away, trainer Bill Mott stared at Sovereignty’s stall and, for a brief moment, allowed himself to reflect on what had happened about 16 hours earlier, when Sovereignty won the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes by a dominant 4 3/4 lengths before an appreciative Saratoga crowd of 40,422.
“Sometimes, you’re so close to the forest, you can’t see the trees,” Mott said. “You forget how really special some of these top athletes are. They’re just tremendous. You think of how many horses they breed each year and to be fortunate enough to have one like him and the others that I have had. People have been in the business for a lifetime and have never had a horse like that. We’ve been very fortunate to have probably more than our share.”
Mott, 73, has trained 11 individual champions in his Hall of Fame career. Cigar, a winner of 16 consecutive races and the author of a 10 for 10 season in 1995, will forever be the standard by which horses in the Mott barn are measured.
But Sovereignty’s resume includes a Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Travers and now a Whitney. The last Kentucky Derby winner to win the Whitney was Carry Back (1961-62). The last horse to win the Belmont Stakes, Travers and Whitney was Lemon Drop Kid in 2000.
“What’s better than Cigar? This horse was a Derby winner, champion 3-year-old, that’s pretty special and to have the Whitney on his resume, too,” Mott said. “He didn’t win 16 in a row, but he’s won the right races.”
And he’s won them in style. Sovereignty’s Whitney victory came by 4 3/4 lengths over the champion filly Nitrogen. The field included White Abarrio, who had defeated Sovereignty in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April, and Magnitude, who defeated Sovereignty in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster in June. On Saturday, Magnitude finished sixth, White Abarrio was seventh.
For Sovereignty, the Whitney - for which he earned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure - helped restore the reputation of the 2025 Horse of the Year as he heads into the fall. Another loss, Mott said, would have had everyone second-guessing the decision to bring Sovereignty back for his 4-year-old season.
“If that horse would have got beat yesterday everybody would have said he’s done,” Mott said. “Then they would have said why didn’t they retire him last year? This kind of justifies what [Godolphin officials] Dan Pride and Michael Banahan stuck their neck out for, to try and make a case for him to come back and run.”
Godolphin is the operation of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and a longtime owner/breeder. Mott said he heard through a third party that Shiekh Mohammed “was very pleased,” Mott said.
Sovereignty came out of the Whitney well and now has two races remaining for the year - and likely his career: the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 18, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31. Both races are 1 1/4 miles, a distance at which Sovereignty is unbeaten in three starts.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, which will be run on opening day, Sept. 18, of the new Belmont Park, is expected to feature a meeting between Sovereignty and Japan’s Forever Young, the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and champion older male. Sovereignty had to scratch from last year’s Classic due to an illness.
“I’m glad to be meeting him knowing we’re coming out of a good race, we’re in good form,” Mott said.
Mott also sent out fourth-place finisher Baeza, who again broke poorly and then got a little keen with Flavien Prat. Mott said plans for Baeza’s next race are undetermined.
Among those expected for the Jockey Club Gold Cup is Antiquarian, who finished third in the Whitney, beaten five lengths. Antiquarian won the Jockey Club last year when it was held in Saratoga and was also beaten a head by Phileas Fogg in the 2025 Suburban, run at 1 1/4 miles. Phileas Fogg, who also won this year’s Suburban by 10 lengths, is also pointing to the Jockey Club.
Before Mott focuses totally on the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he will send out Knightsbridge to California for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. on Aug. 22. On Friday, Knightsbridge worked a sharp five furlongs in 59 seconds. Knightsbridge will work again this coming Friday and ship to California on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Nitrogen, the Whitney runner-up, will return to facing fillies in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 4, as a steppingstone to, most likely, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 31. That was always the plan of trainer Mark Casse, who said he was extremely proud of the way his filly performed in the Whitney, setting the pace through rapid fractions - she went six furlongs in 1:09.65 - and holding second by a neck.
“Sovereignty was awesome, but she (Nitrogen) could have given it up and she didn’t,” Casse said. “She fought on to be second. I can tell you without a doubt I never got more congratulations for running second. Would we have liked to have won? Absolutely. But I’m proud of her and I think it was good for our sport as well. I’ve always been one that wants to help our sport and without [owners] Len Green and Jon Green that wouldn’t have happened either.”
Nitrogen did grab herself when she stumbled, but it wasn’t a major deal, Casse said.
“She just took the hide off the back of her ankle, it was bleeding a little,” Casse said.
Magnitude, who also bobbled out of the gate, had his four-race winning streak snapped when he finished sixth, beaten 15 1/4 lengths in the Whitney. Unable to secure his customary forward position, Magnitude tried to stalk the pace under Jose Ortiz.
“He was never comfortable,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Asmussen plans to train Magnitude up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic based on “how fast he’s run off 90 days on more than occasion,” he said.
At 3, Magnitude won the Iowa Derby off a near-five-month layoff. This year, he won the Grade 3 Razorback and Grade 1 Stephen Foster off three-month layoffs.
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