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Sovereignty and Brian Hernandez, Jr., waited patiently and then drew away handily for the Travers, Grade 1, victory. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)
By Mary Eddy
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A glowing list of accolades for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott grew one race longer on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course as dual Classic-winner Sovereignty asserted his dominance to become the first Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers winner for the legendary conditioner.
“It’s something I’ve been waiting on,” said Mott, a dual Kentucky Derby-winning trainer. “I had two or three races on my bucket list, and one was the Met Mile which we got that done with Cody’s Wish and the one that was left was the Travers. Now, the only thing to do is to try and come back and repeat. Those are some of the most important races. For me, racing primarily in New York now, the Kentucky Derby was great, but I must say, for me, I think the Travers is a great race to win. It’s very satisfying and gratifying to get that done.”
In a dazzling display of strength and athleticism, Sovereignty rallied from off-the-pace to claim a 10-length victory in the 10-furlong “Mid-Summer Derby” for sophomores, providing his owner and breeder Godolphin with their third win in the Spa’s centerpiece event after a dead-heat win with Alpha in 2012 and an outright score with Essential Quality in 2021.
The win also provided regular pilot Junior Alvarado with his first Man o’ War Cup, continuing his career-best year that featured his initial Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets wins atop Sovereignty, who became the first Derby and Belmont-winner since Thunder Gulch in 1995 to win the Travers.
“This is the horse of a lifetime,” said Alvarado, who was also the regular rider of Godolphin’s 2023 Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish. “All my big wins come from him. I can’t give thanks enough to the Godolphin people and to Billy Mott for keeping their trust in me and letting me ride these beautiful horses.”
Sovereignty was the heavy 1-4 favorite amid a field of five, but a humble Mott took nothing for granted in the days leading up to the race and allowed Sovereignty to do the talking with a patient trip engineered by Alvarado. The Into Mischief bay emerged well from post 4 and settled at the back of the field as the expected pacesetter and second choice Magnitude sped up the rail to lead under pressure from Bracket Buster and a wide-running McAfee, who broke a step slow, through the opening quarter-mile in 23.47 seconds over the fast footing.
A patient Alvarado was content to follow the top three and raced to the outside of Strategic Focus heading into the backstretch but was not far behind as he coaxed Sovereignty along between rivals as McAfee took back a few strides on the outside. Up front, Bracket Buster would not allow Magnitude an easy lead, and sat right off his flank through the half-mile in 47.43 and three-quarters in 1:11.23.
It was then that Sovereignty began to move forward, doing so with ease under little-to-no urging from Alvarado to put away McAfee and Strategic Focus and take dead aim at the pacesetters. Bracket Buster stuck his head in front of Magnitude midway through the turn and Alvarado got to work aboard Sovereignty, shaking him loose to gain with giant strides on the outside of the 17-1 longshot.
Running wide into the stretch, Sovereignty was asked for his best and responded with a devastating turn-of-foot after reaching one mile in 1:36.02. Bracket Buster put forth a brave run along the inside and gave everything he had under Luis Saez to try and post a monumental upset, but Sovereignty’s superiority shone in the final eighth as he drew off to a romping victory geared down in a final time of 2:00.84.
The Vicki Oliver-trained Bracket Buster was third 10 3/4 lengths ahead of Magnitude with McAfee and Strategic Focus completing the order of finish.
Alvarado said the brave Sovereignty was unphased by some mild squeezing heading onto the backstretch.
“He was amazing today. He showed something maybe a little different today,” Alvarado said. “We got kind of boxed in a little bit between horses. I just didn’t want to go wide in the first turn. He handles everything I try with him. He just does it so professionally with no hesitation.”
Mott and Alvarado have teamed up to win several marquee races for Godolphin in recent years, and the trainer said he had full confidence in Alvarado to carve out a winning trip as he had done five times before atop Sovereignty.
“There were no instructions. He knows him, he’s ridden him,” Mott said. “We tried to guess who might be showing the early speed in the race and that’s all we talked about. It looked like the one [Magnitude] and the two [Bracket Buster] were the obvious horses that would probably set the pace and we’d be somewhere in behind. And he was – he settled into stride and looked comfortable once he got around the first turn and down the backside. When he left the three-eighths pole, he just cruised up to the leaders and took over.”
A gracious Mott tipped his cap to Bracket Buster and trainer Oliver.
“It’s never over ’til it’s over, and watching the race unfold, Vicki Oliver’s horse, Bracket Buster, held on very well until the eighth pole,” Mott said. “He ran a courageous race. I commend her for giving it a shot and running in here. Her horse ran great. Our horse just proved how good he was when he pulled away in the last eighth of a mile. He’s pretty special.”
Sovereignty’s sparkling campaign includes his two Classic victories over Grade 1 Preakness and NYRA Bets Haskell-winner Journalism when taking the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2-lengths with a rally from 16th-of-19, and the Belmont Stakes by three lengths in June over course and distance. He continued his run of good form with a wide-running victory in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun on July 26 here, making him the 14th horse to notch a Jim Dandy/Travers double. He also won Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in March when making his seasonal debut.
Michael Banahan, bloodstock director for Godolphin USA, spoke of Mott’s impeccable talents as Sovereignty joins Cody’s Wish as top Godolphin homebreds trained by Mott and piloted by Alvarado.
“He’s step-by-step developed the way that we’d hoped that he would,” he said of Sovereignty. “He’s had a tremendous year since the Fountain of Youth. Step-by-step through there. We are so grateful to see him develop how he did, and Bill has done an awesome job. Getting him to peak Derby Day, Belmont Day, and back here again today. That takes an awful lot of skill, and we know he’s done it many, many times in the past, but it is still awesome to see and pull off these types of wins. Junior has given the horse another great ride and I think he fits him like a glove, we know he has an awful lot of talent.”
Banahan added that Sovereignty is likely to set his sights on his first meeting with elders in this year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 1 at Del Mar.
“I would think that’s the next logical step,” Banahan concluded. “We always felt after the Derby, the Travers was the next goal that we had. The Belmont as well, but the Travers was the main mid-summer goal. Achieving what he has done today, the logical next spot to turn up is Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, as long as the horse is doing well and training as well as Bill wants him to be, I think that’s where he’ll end up next.”
The winning earnings of $687,500 brought Sovereignty’s bankroll to more than $5.8 million, and he improved his record to 9-6-2-0 while returning $2.60 on a $2 win ticket.
BBN Racing’s Bracket Buster put forth a career-best effort and entered from a fourth-place finish in the NYRA Bets Haskell on July 19 at Monmouth Park. The son of Vekoma tallied his second graded placing after finishing second to Gosger in the Grade 3 Lexington in April at Keeneland.
“I’m really proud of him. He ran a big, big race,” Oliver said. “I think it’s hard to say you have a shot against that horse but turning for home I thought we were going to run tough. We just got beat by a better horse. It’s good money for second and he showed that he belongs.”
The Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen-trained Magnitude picked up his first Grade 1 placing on the heels of an open-lengths romp in Prairie Meadows’ Listed Iowa Derby on July 5. Jockey Ben Curtis said the son of Not This Time tried his best.
“The horse ran well. He finished third. He ran a decent race,” Curtis said.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $150,000 West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
