Sovereignty back on top in the Whitney, NYRA Photo
Mary Eddy
In a classic summer showdown of the best dirt routers in the nation, it was the reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty who put forth a glorious return to his best form with an emphatic deep-closing victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney for 3-year-olds and up traveling nine furlongs over historic Saratoga Race Course’s main track.
With his Whitney victory, Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred son of Into Mischief was awarded a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in October at Keeneland.
Sovereignty’s stirring 4 3/4-length triumph quelled any doubts about his 4-year-old form following a runner-up finish to White Abarrio in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in April and an even third-place finish last out in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster in June over sloppy and sealed footing at Churchill Downs. In the Whitney, he demonstrated the class that propelled him to victory last year in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill, and locally in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, Grade 2 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun and Grade 1 DraftKings Travers.
A grateful Mott said it was a relief to see Sovereignty return to the winner’s circle in such grand fashion.
“Absolutely, without a doubt,” Mott said. “I mean naturally any time a horse is undefeated or has a win streak going, and they get beat, you always wonder ‘OK, what’s going to happen next time?’ So, I must admit, I think there’s always some concern that they’re going to fire their best shot, but he did today.
“I knew he was doing well coming into the race, but you’ve got to see it out here in the afternoon,” Mott continued. “You’ve got to see it against the group of horses he’s running against, and he showed up today. He did what we thought he could do and what he was supposed to do, and he didn’t let us down.”
With regular rider Junior Alvarado at the helm, Sovereignty traveled through an eventful trip over the fast footing, initially settling in fifth and 5 1/2 lengths back of the pacesetting Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Nitrogen, who stumbled at the start under Hall of Famer John Velazquez and was pressured early by post-time favorite and Group 1 Dubai World Cup-winner Magnitude to her inside through the opening quarter-mile in 23.43 seconds.
Nitrogen took clear command on the backstretch from the progressing Antiquarian, while Magnitude took back to third ahead of 2023 Whitney-winner White Abarrio with a large gap back to Sovereignty. The filly reached the half-mile in 46.27, and Sovereignty had dopped back even farther, briefly racing in last behind his slow-starting stablemate Baeza, and Tiztastic.
“Last year he started to be a little closer [early in his races],” Alvarado said. “Bill told me, ‘just ride him like you ride him. Be confident with him.’ And that’s what I did. He broke good and I let him be wherever he wanted to be. If he wanted to be close, I wasn’t going to take that away. If he was to sit back, I wasn’t going to push him to get closer. Just let him be, and that’s what I did.”
Magnitude was already under a strong ride entering the far turn and faded as Antiquarian was asked for his best and Sovereignty moved in tandem with Baeza to commence their bids through three-quarters in 1:09.65.
“I think by the five-eighths pole with those two horses, Baeza and [Tiztastic], were moving along the inside and he kind of got encouraged right there,” Alvarado said. “He started picking it up and started making his nice move. He just kept coming at it.”
A tough Nitrogen kept Antiquarian at bay exiting the turn and White Abarrio spun his wheels while Baeza went wide and Sovereignty went out even further to set his sights on Nitrogen, who attempted to become the first female Whitney winner since Personal Ensign in 1988.
“I knew I got him in gear,” Alvarado said of Sovereignty’s turn-of-foot. “He was just eating the ground, so I knew I was good at that point turning for home.”
Baeza ran on belatedly under Flavien Prat once straightened for home and Antiquarian gave game chase along the inside, but it was Sovereignty that stuck his head in front and had all the momentum to sweep past the hearty Nitrogen passing the eighth pole, drawing off strongly down the center of the course to the redemptive victory in a final time 1:47.91.
Nitrogen held second by a neck over Antiquarian with Baeza, Tiztastic, Magnitude and White Abarrio completing the order of finish. Forged Steel was scratched and will reportedly target the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on August 22 at Del Mar.
On Saturday, Sovereignty got a much drier surface than the Stephen Foster, which Mott said was helpful.
“We had a good racetrack, I said last time, there was a concern about the racetrack,” Mott said. “It was sealed, probably a little slippery, for whatever reason, he didn’t finish up, but today he was getting a hold of it, as you could see, coming through the stretch.”
For Mott, one of the most meaningful parts of the victory was the reception from the large crowd in attendance to see the local hero that swept Saratoga’s premiere sophomore dirt races last summer.
“You know what is special? You hear the crowd when he showed back up in front of the winner’s circle? I mean, it was crazy,” Mott said. “You just don’t hear that very often. I’ve been here all afternoon, I didn’t hear it for any other races, but I heard it for him. They were glad to see him back.”
Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin USA, shared Mott’s sentiments about their beloved fan favorite.
“I’m especially glad that all these people here today got to see him perform,” Banahan said. “They really have bought into him, just like at the Travers and Belmont last year. He’s really got a great following, and it was great for him to put on a show for them today against one of the best Whitney fields we have seen in our lifetime. It was super to see him do that.”
Sovereignty now sets his sights on what is sure to be another showdown of stars in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on September 18 when racing returns to the new Belmont Park. There, he’ll likely finally get his chance at global superstar Forever Young, who won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in November that Sovereignty was forced to miss due to illness.
“Well the Jockey Club Gold Cup has always been on our calendar, so if things go well, the timing is good,” Mott said. “Here we are. We can’t chicken out, can we?”
Sovereignty, out of the Bernardini mare Crowned, boosted his bankroll to more than $6.8 million with the $550,000 earned for his Whitney victory. He returned $6.52 on a $2 win ticket.
Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse was touched by the effort from Nitrogen to finish second as only the third filly in 38 years to take on males in the Whitney.
“I don’t get emotional very often about horse racing, but she made me emotional,” Casse said. “She stumbled coming away and grabbed her right-front ankle a little bit. They were rolling. I was happy after the first quarter and then the half, I was like [uh oh]…she got beat by a very good horse. She beat a lot of good ones today and one thing about her, she took it to them. She’s amazing.”
Jose Ortiz was aboard Magnitude for his last four races heading into the Whitney for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen – all of them graded/group stakes wins – and said the early pace was too hot for him to ask the son of Not This Time to keep pressing the issue onto the backstretch.
“He broke clean. I felt like [Nitrogen] went too fast to the lead, so I had to give him a shot. There was no way I was going to keep him there,” Ortiz said. “I gave him a shot, riding with confidence behind the speed, but it didn’t work out.”
As for Baeza, Prat said the addition of quarter pads in the gate did not help the 4-year-old son of McKinzie, who has been hampered by poor starts in all three of his races this year.
“He broke slow and after that he got aggressive on me down the backside and he came with a little bit of a run,” Prat said. “I thought if he relaxed better down the backside, he would have given me a better run.”
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with an 11-race card, featuring the Grade 2, $300,000 Troy in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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