11.14pm Stephen Foster Stakes (Grade 1) 1m 1f

TONIGHT’S $2 million Stephen Foster brings together some of the top older horses in the US.

The 2025 Horse of the Year, Sovereignty, returns to the scene of his Kentucky Derby success when he meets again the horse who beat him on his return to action in April in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. There, White Abarrio proved two lengths too good.

There were reasons to allow Sovereignty that defeat, his first run since the Travers in August of last year. He raced closer to the pace and was found wanting in the final furlong, though still two lengths ahead of triple Grade 1 winner, Journalism. He had set the pace, duelling with Journalism through fast fractions.

Sovereignty was the dominant three-year-old of 2025, compiling a near-perfect 5-for-6 season highlighted by triumphs in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Travers and it’s likely his season is being set to peak for the Breeders’ Cup in the autumn. The seven-year-old White Abarrio had previously finished second to Skippylongstocking in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes.

But Sovereignty’s biggest danger is the fellow four-year-old Magnitude.

Steve Asmussen’s colt won the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes impressively last season, but missed all the Triple Crown races and found Sovereignty way too good in a wide-margin Travers Stakes win, where Magnitude finished over 20 lengths behind.

Second next time out to Baeza in the Penn Derby at Parx, he has been on a roll since, winning the Grade 2 Clark Handicap at Churchill last November and the Grade 3 Razorback at Oaklawn before his crowning moment in beating the world star performer, Japan’s Forever Young, in the Dubai World Cup. The question is, was Forever Young a bit below par there? Third and fourth Meydaan and Imperial Emperor are not Group 1 horses.

Baeza is not to be dismissed, and he counted the Grade 1 Penn Derby among his wins last season and was sixth to Forever Young in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He could only manage third on his reappearance in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes behind Corporate Power and Skippylongstocking, when sent off favourite, though he lost ground at the start and didn’t have an ideal trip.

SELECTION: SOVEREIGNTY

Next best: Magnitude