Sovereignty reigned on a rainy Saturday in the 151st Kentucky Derby at a sloppy Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Entering the race at 7-1, third when the betting windows closed, the 3-year-old colt held off pre-race favorite Journalism (3-1) down the stretch in the slop and mud by 1 ½ lengths in 2:02.31.
Jockey Junior Alvarado earned his first Derby win while trainer Bill Mott notched his second. However, it’s the first time one of Mott’s horses has been first to cross the finish line as Country House prevailed in 2019, also in the slop, after Maximum Security was disqualified for an in-race foul.
“This one got there the right way,” Mott said. “I mean, he’s done well, he’s a great horse, he comes from a great organization and I can’t say enough about the horse and the organization that started him out and made this happen.”
Baeza, an alternate which didn’t enter the field until Thursday after a scratch, was third; Final Gambit was fourth and Owen Almighty finished fifth.
Sovereignty earned $3.1 million from the $5 million purse.
It also completed the career Triple Crown for owner and Godolphin founder and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Eclipse Award winner for Outstanding Owner each of the last five years, whose horses previously won the Preakness (2006, Bernardini, Sovereignty’s maternal grandfather) and the Belmont (2021, Essential Quality).
Godolphin’s 3-year-old filly, Good Cheer, won the Kentucky Oaks Friday.
Citizen Bull, from the No. 1 position, set the early pace, as trainer Bob Baffert said he must. Baffert, a six-time Kentucky Derby champion, was making his return to the race following a three-year suspension after Medina Spirit, who first crossed the line in 2021, was later disqualified for testing positive for a prohibited race-day medication.
He knew his horse needed a strong start and, somehow, an ability to sustain it, but the latter didn’t happen as he faded to 15th in the field of 19.
Down the stretch, it was a two-horse race with Sovereignty and Journalism pulling away from everyone else but each other.
Journalism ran into trouble early around the first turn and jockey Umberto Rispoli moved him outside, from which he eventually made ground. But the big J, big horse didn’t have the extra gear to get past the deep closer.
“It means the world to me,” Alvarado said immediately after the race. “My family’s here. I thought I had a great chance.
“It’s more than even a dream come true.”
Sovereignty, for a $2 bet, paid out $17.96 to win, $7.50 to place and $5.58 to show.
Next up is the Preakness Stakes, May 17 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, for which the field is still to be determined. Sovereignty’s connections did not immediately commit, post-Derby.
Justify, the most recent pre-race favorite to capture the Derby, is also the most recent horse to win each of the sport’s three crown jewels in the same year (2018).
FINAL RESULTS FROM THE 151ST KENTUCKY DERBY
1. Sovereignty
2. Journalism (1 ½ length behind)
3. Baeza (1 ¾)
4. Final Gambit (4 ¼)
5. Owen Almighty (9)
6. Burnham Square (10 ½)
7. Sandman (12 ½)
8. East Avenue (13 ¼)
9. Chunk of Gold (15 ¾)
10. Tiztastic (16 ½)
11. Coal Battle (17)
12. Luxor Cafe (18 ¾)
13. Neoequos (27)
14. Publisher (32 ¼)
15. Citizen Bull (33 ½)
16. American Promise (38 ½)
17. Render Judgement (39 ¾)
18. Flying Mohawk (42 ¼)
19. Admire Daytona (54 ¾)
