Sovereignty scores emphatic Belmont S. (G1) victory
June 7, 2025
Sovereignty capped an incredible day at Saratoga for Into Mischief with his three-length triumph over Journalism in the $2 million Belmont S. (G1).
Earlier on the card, Into Mischief got his 25th lifetime Grade 1 winner when Patch Adams won the Woody Stephens S. (G1), and Into Mischief’s son and fellow Spendthrift stallion Maximus Mischief’s Raging Torrent won the Met Mile (G1).
After winning the Kentucky Derby (G1) Sovereignty skipped the Preakness, which was won by Journalism, setting up a showdown in the Belmont. In the Derby, Sovereignty was far back in the field in the early stages, but on Saturday jockey Junior Alvarado kept his mount within a few lengths of the lead. Rodriguez led the field through six furlongs in 1:12.20 and as they approached the quarter pole, Journalism made his bid for the lead, with Sovereignty closely following.
Journalism came into the stretch with a clear lead, but in what was almost a carbon copy of the Derby, Sovereignty rolled by Journalism in the final furlong and was drawing away at the end. Baeza rallied for third to duplicate the Derby trifecta.
The final time for the 1 ¼-miles on a “good” main track was 2:00.69.
“This is home,” winning Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “It’s the race we were pointing for after the Derby and fortunately it worked out very well. I’m sure we would have taken some criticism had he gotten beat today and he hadn’t run in the Preakness, but it worked out. The horse was good. Junior rode him well. He had a lot of confidence in him and when he cut him loose the horse responded and got the job done.”
Mott continued, “I feel we beat a good field of horses. Journalism is a really good horse. I’ve watched him here this last week and I’ve looked at him–he’s in good form, he looks great, his hair is good and his weight is good. I think he was ready to run today and he ran a good race, you know. Sovereignty was good enough to run him down and get the job done.”
Sovereignty, now the clear-cut leader of the 3-year-old division, is 4-2-0 in seven starts and has earned $4,872,800 for owner/breeder Godolphin.
Sovereignty’s distaff side includes second dam Mushka, a Grade 1 winner of over $1 million and his fourth dam Lakeway was a four-time Grade 1 winner.