HOURS after Ruling Court won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket for Godolphin, Sheikh Mohammed's racing and breeding organisation completed a transatlantic classic double when Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby.

It was Godolphin's first win in the Churchill Downs classic, an ambition held by Sheikh Mohammed for decades.

The 2025 Kentucky Derby was run on a sloppy track following heavy rain in the area. Sovereignty had a rough start, stumbling after being bumped. Known to be a strong stayer, the colt closed on the leaders over three furlongs out and began to challenge rounding the home bend.

He duelled with the favourite Journalism inside the final furlong before edging ahead to won by a length and a half. Baeza, who drew into the race after a late scratching, finished a further neck away in third.

Trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, Sovereignty was bred by Godolphin. He is by Into Mischief out of Crowned, a mare by Bernardini.

He won a Grade 3 race at Churchill as a two-year-old but did not contest a Grade 1 event that season.

On his first start this year Sovereignty won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream and then finished second to Tappan Street in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, staying on strongly at the end of that nine-furlong.

Stepped up to 10 furlongs for the Derby, Sovereignty was expected to appreciate the long finishing straight but it was unknown how he would cope with the sloppy conditions.

After the race, Mott would not commit to aiming Sovereignty at the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, at Pimlico in Baltimore on May 17th.