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The Breeders' Cup Classic is the main even on a stellar card of international Flat action at Del Mar on Saturday night and the Kentucky Derby hero Sovereignty heads the contenders in what looks a renewal for the ages.
Perhaps Sovereignty could have won America's Triple Crown if given the opportunity. But shortly after Sovereignty's two-length victory in the Kentucky Derby on May 3, his connections, trainer Bill Mott and representatives for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin, announced they would be bypassing the Preakness Stakes two weeks later to focus on a different campaign.
"The Travers was my Triple Crown," Mott said recently. "The Derby, Belmont and Travers. For me, personally, those were the three-year-old races we wanted to win." And win them Sovereignty did. Authoritatively.
Now, Sovereignty has one more race to conquer in his three-year-old season as he attempts to lock up Horse of the Year honours in North America. That is the $7m Breeders' Cup Classic on November 1 at Del Mar, live on Sky Sports Racing.
Sovereignty is expected to be the favourite in what is shaping up to be arguably the best Classic run in the 42-year history of the race. This year's Classic field is set to include the top three finishers from last year's Classic - Sierra Leone, Fierceness and Forever Young - as well as Grade One-winning older horses Antiquarian and Locked.
Sovereignty has proven to be North America's best three-year-old in a top-flight class of three-year-olds that includes Preakness winner Journalism as well as Grade One winners Baeza and Nevada Beach. That trio will also be in this year's Classic.
"It's such a deep race, you look across the board and say a lot of these horses can win," Mott said.
The Classic is run at a mile and a quarter. While it is a distance that several of his competitors have won at, it is a distance at which Sovereignty has never lost. He won the Kentucky Derby by a length and a half, the Belmont Stakes - run this year at a mile and a quarter in Saratoga because Belmont Park is under renovation - by three and, in his most recent start, the Travers by 10. It was the fourth-largest margin of victory in the Travers and fifth-fastest time (2:00.84) in the 156-year history of the race.
The mile and a quarter may be what separates Sovereignty from his opponents.
"There's a lot of good horses that can be close to Sovereignty at a mile and an eighth, but after that he keeps going fast," Junior Alvarado, Sovereignty's regular rider, said. "A mile and an eighth for a lot of horses, that's their final reach, mine, he keeps on going."
Mott added: "It doesn't seem to hurt him. I think if you ran him a mile, he'd be tough. He's got the gears."
Sovereignty proved he had multiple gears when he won the Belmont Stakes from a stalking position. In the Kentucky Derby, Sovereignty rallied from 16th place, as far back as 13 lengths off the pace, to run by Journalism. In the Belmont, Sovereignty sat second early, dropped back to fourth, but only two lengths off the pace, before again running by Journalism to win by three.
Alvarado said it was Sovereignty that put himself into the race so early in the Belmont and his two races after that and now his versatility just adds to the list of things that make Sovereignty so dangerous.
"He's a horse that's been developing, learning, learning, now he learns more what his job is and he gets out of there, puts himself close to the pace which is fantastic especially and at a mile and a quarter," Alvarado said. "It doesn't matter, fast or slow or medium pace plus he has that kick at the end."
Cut back to a mile and an eighth in the Grade Two Jim Dandy on July 26, Sovereignty was again close up and outfinished Baeza to win by one lengths. And in the Travers, Sovereignty was close, got shuffled back to last of five before running by Bracket Buster to win by 10 lengths.
Bracket Buster may not be considered a star in the three-year-old division, but after the Travers he did come back to win the Grade Three Oklahoma Derby for his first graded stakes victory.
Given the sloppy track and 19-horse field, Mott said the Kentucky Derby was Sovereignty's best race. But the Travers was a pretty special performance as well.
"Much smaller field, but the way he looked on the racetrack was incredible," Mott said. "From the eighth pole to the wire I thought 'wow, he was looking pretty magnificent'."
Following the Travers, Mott said the plan was always to train Sovereignty up to the Classic. The horse has remained and trained at Saratoga Racecourse before he was scheduled to ship to Del Mar on October 22 and have one more workout before the race.
Mott, who has won the Classic twice - 1995 with Cigar and 2011 with Drosselmeyer - has great respect for the field Sovereignty is about to face, but is not shying away from the challenge.
"When they run their races, they'll open your eyes, but they haven't won every time," Mott said.
At a mile and a quarter, Sovereignty has.
English (US) ·