Thoroughbred racing has many divisions, much like track and field for us two-legged athletes. Grass runners, dirt runners, distance horses, sprinters, males, females, younger, older, you get the idea. The most prominent of all, however, is the three-year-old male division as it contains the most recognizable races to the general public. The Triple Crown series gets the most publicity and now with those races complete we do have a runner residing on the thrown as the unquestioned current king.

  Sovereignty came into 2025 as perhaps the most highly touted three-year-old male in the game. Having closed his two-year-old campaign with an impressive five-length score at Churchill Downs in the Street Sense Stakes, this son of Into Mischief began his trip to the Kentucky Derby with a determined win in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Remaining in South Florida for his final Kentucky Derby prep race, this Bill Mott-trained behemoth came up a length and a quarter short in the Florida Derby.

  Coming into the world’s most famous race off a second-place finish meant this Godolphin owned horse was just a bit under the radar. Most of the pre-race talk surrounded other horses and Sovereignty left the gates as the third betting choice. But as the nineteen runners sorted themselves out over this mile and a quarter, there was Sovereignty with his powerful stretch move running down race favorite Journalism and earning the immortality a Kentucky Derby win brings.

  We fast-forward five weeks ahead to June 7 and the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga in New York. Having skipped the Preakness in favor of more space between races instead of a run at Triple Crown glory, this grandson of Bernardini was not the betting favorite. Again under a masterful ride from Jockey Junior Alvarado, there was Sovereignty impressively rolling to the front with that kingly-like stretch running stride. Rolling past the favored Journalism again, Mott’s prize pupil wrote his name in the record books as the twelfth horse to pull a Derby-Belmont double.

  The Belmont Stakes triumph marked Sovereignty’s third victory in four starts this year and fourth in seven career outings. His on-track earnings now total just over $4.8 million with his next start to be determined.