Sovereignty got the gritty job done in the Kentucky Derby. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Hill Road Breezes for Belmont Stakes
NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Godolphin’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby-winning homebred Sovereignty posted his second work over Saratoga Race Course’s Oklahoma training track since capturing the “Run for the Roses” on May 3, covering five furlongs in 1:02.54 in company with last year’s Grade 1 Whitney-winner Arthur’s Ride [1:02.94] on Saturday.
Sovereignty, with Eclipse Award-winning rider Neil Poznansky up, first galloped almost a complete lap of the oval in usual fashion for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He and Arthur’s Ride stood near the gap on the first turn for a short while before they broke off for their work, Sovereignty beginning about two lengths behind and to the outside of Arthur’s Ride. NYRA clockers caught him through splits of 12 and 2/5 seconds, 25 and 1/5, and 37 and 4/5 before Sovereignty gained on his company into the turn and inched ahead of him through five furlongs in 1:02.54, galloping out in 1:17 flat and 1:33.10.
“I thought it was good,” Mott said back at his barn. “He was a little strong in the warm-up. When he [Poznansky] tipped him out, he kind of went right to the other horse. He had him in behind to begin, and he went well.”
Sovereignty returned to the work tab last week over the Oklahoma with a solo half-mile in 49.76 seconds under Poznansky. The Into Mischief bay is pointing to the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 7 at the Spa as he looks to add to a 1 1/2-length triumph in the Kentucky Derby.
Sovereignty has won three of his last four starts, scoring in the Grade 3 Street Sense as a juvenile and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth as a sophomore, in addition to his Derby coup.
Mott said he has noticed a change in the talented colt’s overall demeanor on the track since the First Saturday in May.
“He’s almost a little more aggressive,” Mott said. “It [the Derby] hasn’t set him back. He’s just getting a little stronger than he was. He wasn’t quite that strong [before the Derby].”
Mott said he expects Sovereignty to have another breeze before the Belmont.
“You just hope he trains well up until the next race, for a fair track, and you go from there,” Mott said.
Arthur’s Ride, the 5-year-old son of Tapit, had just his fourth work this year, and has not started since an off-the-board finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Del Mar.
“I thought he went well the first five-eighths – he probably got a little tired,” Mott said. “He hasn’t had that many works.”
Also, on the tab for Mott were graded stakes-winners Scylla and Resilience, who worked a half-mile in 48.25 in company over the Oklahoma.
Juddmonte’s Scylla, a last-out fourth in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 3, is a potential candidate for the Grade 2, $300,000 Bed o’ Roses on June 6 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. The dual graded stakes-winning full-sister to the millionaire Tacitus has run once at Saratoga, finishing second to Society in last year’s Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap.
Tranquility Lake Farm and Ric Waldman’s Resilience, winner of last year’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack, was a last-out seventh in a May 2 optional claimer at Churchill Downs when making his first start off a respite that dated to a last-of-10 finish in last year’s Belmont Stakes.
An additional trio of Grade 1-winners worked a half-mile over the Oklahoma Saturday, led by the pair of Chancer McPatrick and Spirit of St Louis for five-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown. The former worked 48.65 in company with Grade 3-placed Praetor while the latter worked solo in 49.95.
The George Weaver-trained Sacred Wish completed the triad, covering the distance in 51.25 in her first work since a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on May 3.
Hill Road Breezes for G1 Belmont Stakes
Amo Racing USA’s Hill Road completed his first work on Saturday towards the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, a 10-furlong test for sophomores, on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the Quality Road bay covered a half-mile in 48.75 seconds to the inside of Lordship over the Belmont Park dirt training track. It was Hill Road’s first breeze back since a closing three-quarter-length score in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Peter Pan on May 10 at Belmont at the Big A.
“He worked super, I’m really pleased with him,” said Brown. “He had a nice gallop-out. He is coming along really well. He came out of his last race really well. I put this horse Lordship on the outside of him, they were a good match, they galloped out strong. They are two endurance type horses that are kind of stayers.
“I just wanted a steady work but with a strong gallop-out. These are staying horses that the best part of their works and races will be the late stages, I liked what I saw around the turn galloping out. He is very fit now, Hill Road,” Brown continued. “He is in a good part of his form cycle. I’m just looking to maintain where I’m at with that horse.”
Hill Road improved from a pair of thirds in his two previous stateside outings, finishing 4 3/4 lengths back of Citizen Bull in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November at Del Mar for trainer Adrian Murray before being transferred to Brown and finishing 6 1/4 lengths behind Owen Almighty in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on March 8.
Hill Road looks to join Counterpoint [1951], High Gun [1954], Gallant Man [1957], Cavan [1958], Coastal [1979], Danzig Connection [1986], A.P. Indy [1992], Tonalist [2014], and Arcangelo [2023] as Peter Pan winners to subsequently score in the Belmont Stakes.
Bred in Kentucky by Lynch Bages LTD and Camas Park Stud, Hill Road was a $350,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Exotic Notion, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning multimillionaire and top sire City of Light.
Earle I. Mack’s Kentucky homebred Lordship, a sophomore Gun Runner chestnut, stepped into stakes company off a debut win, finishing fourth in the one-mile and 70-yard Long Branch on May 10 at Monmouth Park. Brown equipped him with blinkers for Saturday’s work.
“I put blinkers on that horse, his last race was a little disappointing. I tried him in a stakes at Monmouth, and he didn’t progress through the kickback, according to the jockey,” said Brown. “I put a little blinker on to see if I could get him to focus up a little bit.”
Lordship, a $725,000 RNA at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, is a full-brother to Grade 3-winner Hall of Fame out of the unraced Giant’s Causeway mare Flag Day, a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Street Ready and stakes-placed Robin Hood.
Juddmonte’s Kentucky homebred Garamond earned a last-out 98 Beyer Speed Figure for a pacesetting optional-claiming win going a one-turn mile on April 27 here. He defeated the well-regarded Cornucopian by 3 1/4 lengths.
Brown said Garamond is pointed to the 1 1/16-mile Listed $150,000 NYRA Bets Pegasus on June 14 at Monmouth, with a goal of the nine-furlong Grade 1, $1 million NYRA Bets Haskell on July 19 there.
“He’s heading over to the Pegasus at Monmouth,” Brown said of the Uncle Mo bay. “For the time being, I’m hoping he turns into a Haskell horse, I don’t want to upend that plan.”
