Bill Mott has kept Sovereignty on course for the $1million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on August 8 despite the 2025 Horse of the Year finishing third in the Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs.
The decision gives Saratoga another major older-horse storyline, with Mott also planning to run Baeza in the same Grade 1. Sovereignty, owned by Godolphin, was beaten five and a quarter lengths by Magnitude in the Stephen Foster and was passed late by his stablemate on the sloppy surface.
According to Thoroughbred Daily News reporter Tim Wilkin, Mott said at Saratoga that there was no chance of losing faith in the colt and confirmed both Sovereignty and Baeza were being aimed at the Whitney.
Sovereignty Returns To His Saratoga Comfort Zone
The move matters because Saratoga is where Sovereignty built the heart of his championship case. He won all three of his starts there last season, taking the Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes and Travers Stakes before missing the Breeders’ Cup Classic through fever.
Mott’s explanation was pointed rather than panicked. He said Sovereignty had run flat at Churchill and suggested the wet track may have been a factor, noting the colt looked uncomfortable taking dirt. With Magnitude, White Abarrio, Nitrogen and possibly Nysos in the Whitney mix, the Saratoga race now shapes as a serious test of whether Sovereignty’s 2025 brilliance can be revived in mid-summer.
