Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sovereignty arrived early morning May 8 at Saratoga Race Course to begin his preparations for the $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1) June 7.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott for owner/breeder Godolphin, the Into Mischief bay shipped from Churchill Downs and arrived around 7:30 a.m. to the barn of the veteran conditioner, along with recent Churchill runners Scylla and Resilience.
"He came off the van like a tiger," said Mott, now a two-time Kentucky Derby-winning conditioner after saddling Country House in 2019. "He's had good energy for a horse that just ran a race like that."
Mott added he will "see how he acts once he settles down" and decide from there what his exercise routine will be at the Spa. It was announced May 6 that Sovereignty would skip the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course May 17 and target the Belmont Stakes—held at Mott's home base where he stables his top horses from April through November each year.
"We feel pretty comfortable here and know our way around here, so that's a good thing," Mott concluded.
Sovereignty was an emphatic winner of the Kentucky Derby with an expert trip carved out by regular rider Junior Alvarado, who has been aboard the colt for 5-of-6 starts and only missed riding in the March 29 Florida Derby (G1) due to injury.
With Alvarado back aboard on the first Saturday in May, Sovereignty was patiently handled in 16th-of-19 and as far back as 13 lengths off the pacesetting Citizen Bull through the half-mile in 46.23 seconds over the sloppy and sealed surface. Alvarado asked Sovereignty for more entering the turn, and the colt responded strongly, steadily picking off rivals with an outside rush to be fourth at the stretch call. Six-wide into the stretch, a determined Sovereignty set his sights on the leading and favored Journalism, and edged clear of his rival inside the final sixteenth to cross the wire 1 1/2 lengths in front in a final time of 2:02.31.
Mott recounted the exact moment he felt confident that his colt would wear the garland of roses.
"When he hit the wire," Mott said, with a laugh.
Alvarado, a native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, earned his first victory in a Triple Crown event, notching a popular win that led to the New York Yankees inviting him to throw out the first pitch at Wednesday night's game against the San Diego Padres in the Bronx. The successful pitch crossed over the plate and into the glove of Yankees third-baseman Oswald Peraza, a fellow Venezuelan native.
"They call it (a) strike so I'll retire with that," Alvarado said in a post on "X."
After all the celebrations are said and done, Mott added he is still finding the words to describe what this past weekend's accomplishment means to him and Godolphin, who also won the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with the Brad Cox-trained Good Cheer May 2.
"You couldn't feel much better," Mott said. "I don't know how words explain it. We've won a lot of nice races, and that's right up there with them."
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
