Sovereignty in his last work at Del Mar. (Zoe Metz)
Breeders’ Cup Breaking News
On Wednesday morning around 7:30, Godolphin’s Sovereignty, the horse many thought was the one to beat in the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), was laying down in his stall on the Del Mar backstretch.
Normally, he would be up and breathing fire, ready to head to the track to train.
Not today. Sovereignty was sick. The leading contender for Horse of the Year, and the morning-line favorite for the Classic, was ruled out of the race by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott Wednesday morning.
The bad news started on Tuesday morning when it was announced that Sovereignty had spiked a fever the night before. After Sovereignty was treated with an anti-inflammatory, Mott had held out faint hope that the horse could recover in time for the race.
That hope disappeared when the fever returned Tuesday afternoon.
“If it didn’t go away, we were going to have a problem,” Mott said outside his office at Del Mar. “And it didn’t go away. “Neil (assistant trainer Poznansky) called me (Tuesday afternoon) and said it had jumped back up. We retreated him and, at that point, it’s not even a conversation. (Sovereignty) made the decision; that incident made the decision. That is what we said from the beginning; if he re-spiked, he would be out.”
Sovereignty, winner of five of six starts this year – including the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes – had been installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the Classic. He has, in all likelihood, wrapped up the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old male champion and would have been a shoo-in for Horse of the Year with a victory in the Classic.
“Yes, I feel sorry for him and, frankly, my staff … everybody was excited about it,” Mott said. “And the fans. I really think this horse was a fan favorite at this point and I feel badly that they are not going to be able to see him participate. I think a lot of people were really looking forward to seeing him run and seeing that race with him in it.”
Sovereignty’s next trip will be a flight to Kentucky, where he will spend time at Godolphin’s farm or a training center. When he will leave California has yet to be determined; it will be when it is deemed Sovereignty is well enough to travel.
“This can knock you out for a while,” Mott said.
Mott said he did not know what Godolphin plans to do with Sovereignty next year: retire him or bring him back for another season.
He could only speculate on how Sovereignty got sick. He had worked a half-mile on Monday and seemed fine after that.
“Something in the air? Another horse? Something in the stall? Who knows?” Mott said.
The disappointment was evident around the three stalls Mott has at Del Mar – the filly Scylla is running in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) on Saturday and Rocky the pony occupy the other two. It was quiet in the Mott corner of the barn, understandably so.
For Mott, he was not going to pout and feel sorry for himself.
“I will wake up tomorrow and I will go again,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know if it’s true, the saying that it was just meant to be. All I can do is think about that and maybe there is something to it. There are certain things that are out of your control.”
