Report: Sovereignty to Miss Jockey Club Gold Cup

Trainer Bill Mott confirmed to Daily Racing Form Sept. 11 that reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty will not run in the Sept. 18 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park after battling a hoof abscess. The Godolphin homebred last worked Aug. 28 before he developed an abscess in his left hind foot that has kept him from subsequent workouts. Mott hopes the Into Mischief colt will return to the track next week with the goal of training him up to a start in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), according to DRF's David Grening. “All I can tell you is I can take the 57 years of experience I have doing this and do my best,” Mott told Grening. Last year, Sovereignty was scratched the week of the Breeders' Cup Classic after developing a fever. The dual classic winner returned to the races in April with a runner-up finish in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) followed by a third in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1). Returning to Saratoga Race Course, where he had triumphed in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1) as a 3-year-old, Sovereignty rolled by 4 3/4 lengths in the Aug. 8 Whitney Stakes (G1) last out. Other contenders in the Jockey Club Gold Cup are last year's Breeders' Cup Classic winner Forever Young (JPN), who made his first appearance on the Belmont Park track Sept. 10, Whitney runner-up Nitrogen, Phileas Fogg, Banishing, Willy D's, and Yo Daddy. Entries for the grade 1 race will be taken Sept. 12.