Sovereignty, the 2025 Kentucky Derby winner, added another major title to his record by winning the 157th Belmont Stakes on Saturday in Saratoga, New York.
Sovereignty wins an epic renewal of the Belmont Stakes! ???? pic.twitter.com/OhjJ02TkyX
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 7, 2025
Owned and bred by Godolphin, the three-year-old colt entered the race as the 5/2 favourite and lived up to expectations, convincingly putting away Preakness Stakes winner Journalism by three lengths.
Following his Derby triumph, Sovereignty’s team opted to skip the Preakness to concentrate on preparing for the longer Belmont distance.
Baeza rounded out the top three, mirroring the 1-2-3 finish seen in the Kentucky Derby last month. The Triple Crown remains elusive, last claimed in 2018 by Justify under trainer Bob Baffert.
Winning rider Junior Alvarado said: "There was a point in my career, maybe five or six years ago, I could see everything fading away to be honest. And here I am. My family always my rock, big supporters. Helped me through tough moments in my life.”
Bill Mott, Sovereignty's trainer, said: “If we wouldn’t have won today, we would have taken a lot of criticism,” Mott said. “It turned out good. Sometimes you make the right decision and a lot of times you make the wrong ones. But today, it really worked out well.”
Sovereignty is by Into Mischief out of Crowned, a mare by Bernardini.
This year marked the second consecutive year the Belmont Stakes was held at Saratoga due to ongoing renovations at Belmont Park. The race is slated to return to its traditional home in 2027.
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