Sovereignty, the winner of the Kentucky Derby announced by Woodford Reserve, will not operate in the May 17 Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Racecourse. Instead, he will be headed to the Belmont Stakes on June 7th at the Saratoga race course.
“We received a call from trainer Bill Mott today that sovereignty is not competing with Preakness. Bill told us that we’d point to Belmont’s stake.”
“We expand our blessings to sovereignty connections and respect their decisions. We continue to see the building of excitement towards the celebration of the 150th Preakness Stakes milestone.
Aron Wellman of Eclipse Sorlarbred Partners, head of the group that owns runner-up journalism for the Kentucky Derby, said the sovereign exile had nothing to do with the decision to run Carlin’s son on the May 17 mid-foot of the Triple Crown.
“As always, (trainer) Michael McCarthy and our owning group will make our decisions based on what we believe is in our horse’s greatest interests, Journalism said. “While the status of sovereignty is not related to our decision, fair plays to Bill Mott and Godolphin will show their hands early and not turn the connections of other possible Preakness starters, and return to the Churchill Downs track tomorrow, and monitor him every day, taking into account his position.”
The winners of the 1997-2018 Kentucky Derby each raced at Preakness, marking the third in the past seven runs where Rose Victor’s run did not move to Preakness. In 2019, the country house trained by Mott missed the classic due to illness, and in 2022 Rich Strike thwarted it to run in the Belmont Stakes.
