The drought for favorites at the Kentucky Derby continues as Sovereignty has claimed victory in ‘The Run for the Roses’.
Sovereignty, ridden by Junior Alvarado and trained by Bill Mott, pulled away from the favorite horse – Journalism – down the stretch in sloppy conditions to claim victory.
Journalism came home in second place. Baeza, the last horse in the starting gate, finished third.
A morning line favorite has not won the Kentucky Derby in seven years. The last horse to do so was Justify, who would go on to win the Triple Crown.
Sovereignty’s victory wasn’t a complete surprise. The horse began the day as the second-favorite at odds of 5-1.
Both Sovereignty and Journalism made the final turn on the outside of the pack and pulled away from the leaders at the front.
Second-favorite Sovereignty has won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby
After being nose-to-nose for a long stretch of the final furlong, Sovereignty began pulling away late to take the crown for himself.
It’s the first victory in the Derby for Alvarado with the Venezuelan taking home a prize of $3.1million.
Mott previously won the 2019 Kentucky Derby – the first time the race results have ever been overturned on appeal.
Maximum Security crossed the line first that year, but a successful appeal found that the horse had impeded upon the path of a competitor. The overturned result meant Mott’s thoroughbred – Country House – was given the victory after posting odds of 65-1 that morning.
Sovereignty will now have the potential to become the 14th horse to win the American Triple Crown. Justify was the last to do so.
The next phase of that test will be at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland on May 17 in the Preakness Stakes.
If the thoroughbred wins ‘The Race for the Black-Eyed Susans’, he’d need to win the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga to clinch the Triple Crown.
The Belmont Stakes will not be at their traditional home of Belmont Park on the outskirts of the New York City limits due to a multi-million dollar renovation of the race course.
Instead, the race will be held at the historic Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. Saratoga is widely considered to be the oldest major sporting venue in the United States, having opened in 1863.
