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For the seventh year in a row, there will not be a Triple Crown winner.
Just days after winning the 151st Kentucky Derby, sovereignt’s coach, Bill Mott, announced that the horse will skip Preakness next Saturday to focus on Belmont Stakes.
“We received a call today from coach Bill Mott that sovereignty will not compete in Preakness,” said Mike Rogers, performing VP for 1/ST RACING, which operates Preakness. “We are expanding our congratulations to the connections between sovereignty and respecting their decision.”
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Sovereignty, run by Junior Alvarado, crosses the finish line to win the 151th of Kentucky Derby in Churchill Downs, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Louisville. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Mott told Preakness officials that the plan will be to enter sovereignty in Belmont Stakes, the third jewel from Triple Crown, June 7 at the Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York. Mott on Sunday morning had pre -shaded to skip Preakness in the name of long -term interests.
“We will do what is best for the horse,” Mott told to journalists in Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. “Of course you always think of a triple crown, and it’s not something we won’t think about.”
The two -week turn from Kentucky Derby to Preakness and changes in modern racing has given rise to debate about the sport of distance from the races. The derby typically takes place on the first Saturday in May with Preakness two weeks after and then Belmont three weeks after that.
Sovereignty crosses the finish line to win on the 151st ran by Kentucky Derby in Churchill Downs on May 3, 2025. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
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The prominent owner Mike Repol earlier Tuesday published on social media a proposal to move Belmont to second place in the Triple Crown Order, four weeks after Kentucky Derby and slides back further for the purpose of holding more of the top horses.
This is the third time since Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018 that the Kentucky Derby winner did not run in Pimlico, joining Rich Strike in 2022 and Country House (also trained by Mott) in 2019. In 2020, hope for a Triple Crown was dotted before preakness. Due to planning changes caused by the pandemic, it was actually the last part of Triple Crown.
Jockey Junior Alvarado celebrates after driving sovereignty to victory in the 151th race by Kentucky Derby, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Sovereignty crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs at. 2: 02.31. It was Mott’s second derby victory in his career.
