There is no more doubt about the best 3-year-old colt in horse racing.
It is sovereignty. And that’s crucial.
But is it fair to ask what happened?
Sovereignty, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, who skipped Preakness, was the prestigious winner of Belmont on Saturday, and swept away to win his favourite journalism of the past, as he did at Churchill Downs.
It makes sovereignty a rare horse that won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont stakes, but he was denied the opportunity to become the winner of the 14th Triple Crown in horse racing, as he never competed for Preakness.
Don’t blame the horse. And don’t even blame trainer Bill Mott. If anything, praise him. Conservative control of sovereignty is possible, and it could have given them five weeks between races rather than running to Preakness just two weeks after the Derby. That’s why he navigated the 1¼ mile at 2:00.69, and it was shaded from Saratoga’s achievements.
And maybe the Sovereignty is fresh and poised for a campaign targeting the Travers Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup Classic and perhaps the Dubai World Cup, where he can run in front of the owners who control the country.
But at the same time, it feels like an opportunity that I missed a little. Sovereignty deserved a chance to become a Triple Crown winner. Because he is exactly that good racehorse and he will never get the chance again. That’s forever “What if?”
“If we didn’t win today, we would have received a lot of criticism,” Mott said shortly after the race at Fox Sports. “But it turned out to be good. We made the wrong decisions in many cases, but today it worked.”
Of course, another factor here is that Belmont operated 1¼ mile in Saratoga, rather than the traditional 1½ mile configuration at Belmont Park, due to the truck being renovated. Even if Sovereignty won all three triple crown races, he would have had an asterisk due to circumstances beyond his control. Therefore, by choosing to skip Preakness, Mott saved the entire world of sports from fruitless debate.
But what’s clear is that this 3-year-old crop is very good. Sovereignty, Journalism, Baeza is 1-2-3 in Louisville and 1-2-3 in New York, and Journalism uses plaqueness to get classic victory on your resume.
That consistency shows some very good racehorses with the potential to continue competing for the rest of the year. But for now, there is no doubt about those best.
Sovereignty was the best.
