Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty is not going to run within the Preakness Stakes, officers introduced Tuesday, which means there gained’t be a Triple Crown champion for a seventh consecutive 12 months.
“We obtained a name at this time from coach Invoice Mott that Sovereignty is not going to be competing within the Preakness,” mentioned Mike Rogers, government VP of 1/ST Racing, which operates the Preakness. “We prolong our congratulations to the connections of Sovereignty and respect their determination.”
Mott instructed Preakness officers the plan can be to enter Sovereignty within the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown, on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. Mott on Sunday morning had foreshadowed skipping the Preakness within the title of long-term pursuits.
“We need to do what’s greatest for the horse,” he instructed reporters at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. “In fact, you all the time take into consideration a Triple Crown, and that’s not one thing we’re not going to consider.”
Sovereignty gained a muddy Derby with jockey Junior Alvarado at odds of 7-1 by passing favourite Journalism down the stretch.
Proprietor Godolphin’s U.S. director of bloodstock, Michael Banahan, deferred an evidence to Mott in a textual content message despatched to The Related Press, calling it a crew determination that “each really feel it’s the suitable path for the horse going ahead.” A message left for Mott was not instantly returned.
That is the fifth time since Justify gained all three races in 2018 that the Preakness will go on with out a true shot at a Triple Crown. Elevated winner Nation Home and Most Safety, who was disqualified for interference, every didn’t take part in 2019, the races had been run out of order in 2020, Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit was DQ’d for a constructive drug check in 2021 and lengthy shot Rich Strike was held out in 2022 to relaxation him for the beforehand deliberate 5 weeks.
Mage finished third within the Preakness in 2023, and Mystik Dan was second final 12 months after his proprietor and coach also were initially reluctant to run him. The 2-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness and adjustments in trendy racing have sparked debate across the sport about spacing out the races.
Distinguished proprietor Mike Repole earlier Tuesday posted on social media a proposal to maneuver the Belmont to second within the Triple Crown order, 4 weeks after the Kentucky Derby and sliding the Preakness again additional with the purpose of retaining extra of the highest horses concerned.
“The Preakness being run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, on this new day and age in racing, exhibits the shortage of imaginative and prescient and management wanted to evolve this sport,” Repole wrote. “I count on the highest three finishers of this 12 months’s Derby to skip the Preakness and go proper to the Belmont.”
No determination has been made on second-place finisher Journalism, who was the Derby favourite, or third-place Baeza for the one hundred and fiftieth working of the Preakness, the final at Pimlico Race Course earlier than it is knocked down and rebuilt. The plan is for the 2026 Preakness to happen at Laurel Park between Baltimore and Washington whereas Pimlico is underneath building.
