Sovereignty gains second crown

[Pete Lane]

From Racing.com:

The Godolphin-owned Sovereignty left little doubt as to who is the best three-year-old in the United States when he took out the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga to give him two of the three legs of the Triple Crown in the United States.

Just as he did in the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, he relegated Journalism to second placing.

Sovereignty did not contest the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, which Journalism was successful in.

Journalism surged to the lead on straightening in the Belmont Stakes, but Sovereignty cruised past him soon after and went on to win by three lengths.

Sovereignty’s trainer Bill Mott said he was happy with his decision to not contest the second leg of the Triple Crown with his colt.

“If we wouldn’t have won today, we would have taken a lot of criticism. It turned out good. Sometimes you make the right decision and a lot of times you make the wrong ones. But today, it really worked out well,” Mott said.

Mott said he prioritised the colt’s health and wellbeing over running in the Preakness Stakes.

Sovereignty was again ridden by Junior Alvarado who said winning two legs of the Triple Crown was surreal.

He said five or six years ago he wondered where his career was going, and he thanked his family for their support.

 

[stodge]

The Belmont is normally 2400m and a real test of stamina for the Dirt 3-y-o but as Belmont is being redeveloped, the race was run at Saratoga over 2050m so close to the Derby distance.

Presumably JOURNALISM and SOVEREIGNTY will now have to take on the older Dirt types such as WHITE ABARIO in races like the Haskell, the Travers and ultimately the Breeders Cup Classic.

Something for Godolphin to cheer after a disastrous Epsom meeting which saw Coolmore take out all three Group 1 races. I’ve not heard a revised plan for RULING COURT who was a late withdrawal from the English Derby due to rain softened ground. I wonder if they’ll go the 2000m route and head for the Eclipse at Sandown in early July.

[sunlineboy]

It was another great race. However, racing in the USA has become stale from a betting perspective, and it's struggling to gain any new interest.

Seeing the guitarist from Creed/Alterbridge signing New York, New York, was absolutely wild, and so very American.

[stodge]

16 minutes ago, sunlineboy said:

It was another great race. However, racing in the USA has become stale from a betting perspective, and it's struggling to gain any new interest.

Seeing the guitarist from Creed/Alterbridge signing New York, New York, was absolutely wild, and so very American.

I don’t play on US racing apart from the Breeders Cup.

We get plenty of races shown every night from all sorts of tracks and I remember during lockdown Will Roger’s Downs was almost the only racing on the planet at one point.

There do seem to be a lot of 6-8 runner claimers and allowance races which remind me of dog racing from the Stow or Catford from my youth - happy days.

I must admit one for my Bucket List is a couple of days at Del Mar. I love racecourses by the sea - we don’t have that many with the sea as a backdrop, I can think of Musselburgh, Brighton and Yarmouth but after that I’m struggling.

[Nerula]

Brighton's up the hill a fair way back, but you could see the sea alright if it not raining. The little stand looked Victorian when i saw it, I thought

[stodge]

On 6/8/2025 at 11:12 AM, Nerula said:

Brighton's up the hill a fair way back, but you could see the sea alright if it not raining. The little stand looked Victorian when i saw it, I thought

If it’s raining you don’t see much and they’ve abandoned meetings when the sea fog rolls in.

I’m hoping to go this summer - it was close to closure two decades ago before Arena Racing took over. In the old days, the best thing about it was Barrie Cope’s seafood stall.

[Nerula]

Had friends at Lulworth we would train down to Brighton and pick up an Avis rental at the Marina. Heading up the hill I would check out the course and it looked old and cute. The last time the Focus barely got up to the top road - the petrol car had been topped up with diesel.

Your brethren excel at rotten service generally, a condition caused by there being another 60 million suckers to treat - and never see again.

[Pete Lane]

8 hours ago, Nerula said:

Had friends at Lulworth we would train down to Brighton and pick up an Avis rental at the Marina. Heading up the hill I would check out the course and it looked old and cute. The last time the Focus barely got up to the top road - the petrol car had been topped up with diesel.

Your brethren excel at rotten service generally, a condition caused by there being another 60 million suckers to treat - and never see again.

My grandmother used to live at Lulworth.