DEL MAR — Six months after Sovereignty won the Run for the Roses, trainer Bill Mott admits he was still looking at the colt “with rose-colored glasses” Tuesday morning when he sounded hopeful about America’s top-ranked thoroughbred being able to race in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Wednesday morning, Mott announced Sovereignty will be scratched, a decision made after the return Tuesday afternoon of a fever that first appeared late Monday.
About 20 hours earlier, Mott had estimated it was “a 50-50 shot” that Sovereignty’s temperature would remain normal after medication.
“I actually started thinking, ‘You know what, We might be OK here.’ And then, in just a matter of hours, my optimism was taken away,” Mott said in the Del Mar barns area. “When he had a real mild fever and we medicated him right away, he acted normal. I actually was maybe looking at it with rose-colored glasses.”
Sovereignty had been a 6-5 favorite on the morning line in what had been a 10-horse field for the Classic, main event of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races Friday and Saturday, its $7 million purse making it the richest race in North America.
With Sovereignty out, morning-line maker David Aragona said the new favorite is Fierceness, the Pacific Classic winner at Del Mar in August, at 5-2. Fierceness is followed closely by 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone and Japanese star Forever Young, both at 7-2, and Santa Anita Derby and Preakness winner Journalism at 5-1.
The withdrawal of Sovereignty, who is No. 6 in the program and had the corresponding post position, means Nos. 7-10 Sierra Leone, Mindframe, Journalism and Antiquarian will move one stall closer to the inside for the 1¼-mile race. The inside posts belong, from the rail out, to Fierceness, Baeza, Nevada Beach, Contrary Thinking and Forever Young.
Aron Wellman, lead owner of Kentucky Derby and Belmont runner-up Journalism, expressed sympathy for the connections of Sovereignty, who include owner Godolphin and jockey Junior Alvarado.
“My heart goes out to those connections,” Wellman said in an interview on FanDuel TV. “They’ve had an incredible year, and honestly you just hate to see it. We all work so hard to get to this point all year long, and to have it taken away from you 72 hours before the Breeders’ Cup Classic after the season Sovereignty’s had is just crushing.
“So for me, the only sentiments I have are just kind of a pit in my stomach because we all know how delicate these situations are and how quickly it can be taken away from you, and it can happen to anybody. So, honestly, just thinking about him and now just trying to focus on our horse, and hopefully everything goes smooth for everybody and we get as many healthy horses into the gate as we can.”
Sovereignty would have been trying to be only the third horse in 11 years to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the year he won the Kentucky Derby, joining Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (2015) and Authentic (2020).
The son of Into Mischief went into this week with the No. 1 ranking in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s media poll and seems likely to be named Horse of the Year at the end of 2025. The question now is whether the 3-year-old will race in 2026. The decision ultimately will be made by Godolphin’s chief, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed.
“I’m waiting for those decisions to be made,” said Mott, who said Sovereignty will initially go to Kentucky from Del Mar early next week.