There are always high expectations placed on the reigning Horse of the Year to perform well in their next season, and even more so when that season starts winless in two outings with one of them a subpar effort as a heavy favorite. On Saturday, there was a sense of relief for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott when SOVEREIGNTY dominated the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney by 4 3/4 lengths at Saratoga Race Course.
“I think we’re all kind of like – ‘whoosh,’” Mott said, making a relaxed, sinking motion. “He’s doing good today and getting lots of attention.”
Sovereignty, the 2025 Horse of the Year for his campaign that featured Grade 1 wins in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets and DraftKings Travers, began this year with a good starting point performance in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, where he set a pressured pace and was second to White Abarrio by two lengths. His next effort left questions to be answered, landing a non-threatening third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster over sloppy and sealed footing in June at Churchill Downs.
The nine-furlong Whitney was Sovereignty’s day for redemption, sitting well off the pace and briefly in last behind a pair of advancing rivals as regular pilot Junior Alvarado rode the son of Into Mischief with confidence and waited for the perfect moment to strike. Sovereignty ranged up in the turn with a wide move and came with a strong, sustained run to sweep past the pacesetting Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Nitrogen and storm home to victory in front of a raucous crowd of 40,422. The winning effort earned a 112 Beyer Speed Figure.
Mott said he had full faith in Alvarado when Sovereignty was far behind down the backstretch.
“I didn’t know if he was backing up, and as it turned out, the others were moving forward and he was staying where he was,” Mott said. “At the three-eighths pole, it was a different story.”
Sovereignty provided both Mott and Alvarado with their first career Travers win last year, and their second collaborative Whitney on Saturday after scoring in 2024 with Arthur’s Ride. Sovereignty has delivered plenty of special memories at Saratoga for the entire team, including in the Whitney when fans cheered for his special homecoming to the Spa’s winner’s circle.
“Well it made me feel good,” Mott said, with a laugh. “Not only him winning, but the applause and cheers and excitement he created. That’s a big thrill for me.”
A Kentucky homebred for Godolphin, Sovereignty now holds a 12-7-3-1 record with more than $6.8 million in earnings. His next target will be the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on September 18 as racing returns to the new Belmont Park.
“Hopefully we’re in good shape for that and it’s an ideal race for him,” Mott said.
C R K Stable and Grandview Equine’s Baeza finished a slow-starting fourth with a belated run in the Whitney for Mott, his third consecutive start with a poor break. In his other two starts this year, Baeza still came with a tremendous run to hit the board with a competitive effort, but he did not show the same late foot in the Whitney as he was defeated six lengths by his stablemate.
The effort was again puzzling as Mott said the colt is still a bit of a head-scratcher.
“Without a doubt,” said Mott, who added the son of McKinzie emerged from the effort in good shape. “Even though he got left, he didn’t run as good a race as he did the time before.”
Mott also provided an update on Michael and Katherine Ball’s Chief Wallabee, who finished a distant second to Sea Strike as the favorite in the nine-furlong restricted Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos on August 2 here.
Mott said the son of Constitution, who was fourth going 10 furlongs in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes earlier this year, will likely benefit from another cutback in distance.
“He’s back on the track training and is fine,” Mott said. “We’ll probably take another step back in distance and see what’s in store. We’re getting through all the 3-year-old races and he’s probably a horse that should have been running in the Woody Stephens and Allen Jerkens. If we could do it over, maybe we’d have been looking at that, but who knows? Maybe that wouldn’t have worked either.”
Nitrogen, second in Whitney, to make next start against fillies and mares in G1 Spinster
D. J. Stable’s Nitrogen exited her valiant runner-up effort in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney in good shape and will make her next start against fillies and mares in the Grade 1 Spinster on October 4 at Keeneland, dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said Sunday morning.
In the Whitney, Nitrogen stumbled at the start but recovered to set the pace while being pressed by Antiquarian. She led to the final furlong before she was overtaken by Sovereignty, eventually finishing 4 3/4 lengths behind the winner and a neck ahead of third-place finisher Antiquarian. The 2025 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly was attempting to become the first filly or mare to win the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up since Personal Ensign in 1988.
“I don’t know if [during the race] I ever thought she was going to win it,” said Casse. “I can tell you that when we broke that she made the lead and I saw the first fraction [23.43], I was like, ‘OK, that’s good.’ And then [46.27 for the half-mile], and I was like, ‘eeuuuh.’ And then 1:09[.65 for three-quarters]. She’s been running in mid [1:]10s for three-quarters [in her prior races]. So, that was putting her a little over. That was a little faster than she’s ever run. And I don’t think the track yesterday was as kind to the speed. They were coming from out of it a little bit. But look, Sovereignty was much the best. We are not going to take anything away from him, I think but given the conditions yesterday and the way things played, it goes to show you how great [Nitrogen] is.”
Nitrogen grabbed her right-front ankle at the start of the Whitney, but Casse on Sunday expressed no concern over the injury.
The Spinster will be Nitrogen’s second start on the Keeneland main track, after finishing second to Gin Gin in that event last year. She won the Grade 2 Appalachian on turf at that venue as a juvenile. This year’s Breeders’ Cup will be held at Keeneland, with Breeders’ Cup Saturday coming 27 days after the Spinster.
“Right now, obviously, we want to win the Breeders’ Cup, so that’s out there,” said Casse. “I would love for her to be Champion again.”
When asked to be more specific on his post-Spinster plans, Casse smiled and said, “We’re going to the Spinster, and we’ll go from there.”
Todd Pletcher Wins 6,000
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher earned his 6,000th career victory in North America with sophomore colt Versailles Road defeating elders in Race 14, an 11-furlong inner turf optional claimer and Saturday’s finale at Saratoga Race Course.
“It’s a hard business to reflect in much, but it’s weird how when you get to these milestones that you start thinking about the individual ones and the single ones – they add up,” Pletcher said.
Pletcher, 59, is the son of trainer Jake Pletcher and began working as a hotwalker for his father at the age of seven. Pletcher worked for his father at Ruidoso Downs, Louisiana Downs, and Ak-Sar-Ben and later had stints with Henry Moreno and Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham in California. Between his sophomore and junior years in the Race Track Industry Program at the University of Arizona, Pletcher worked as a groom for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas at Arlington Park.
After graduating from college in 1989, Pletcher began working for Lukas as a foreman in New York. He was promoted to assistant in 1991 and was Lukas’ East Coast assistant until he took out his own trainer’s license in December 1995. Pletcher won his first race on January 26, 1996 at Gulfstream Park with Majestic Number. His first graded stakes win came with Rare Rock in the 1998 Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Breeders’ Cup Handicap and he landed his first Grade 1 later that year in the Acorn at Belmont Park with Jersey Girl.
Pletcher on eight occasions has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer [2004-07, 2010, 2013-14, 2022] and has trained 17 Eclipse Champions. The native of Dallas, Texas has won the Kentucky Derby twice and the Belmont Stakes four times. He has 16 Breeders’ Cup victories and has won outright or shared Saratoga’s H. Allen Jerkens training title 15 times.
Pletcher said quotes from the late multiple Grade 1-winning jockey Robby Albarado, who passed away at age 52 on Tuesday, resonated with him.
“I was reading something about Robby – maybe it was in one of his obituaries the other day, he was talking about how he was feeling when he got close to 5,000 and maybe got into a little bit of a slump and he started thinking about how important each win, in what might seem just a normal race, each win is so important to so many people. I knew what he was talking about when I was reading that,” Pletcher said.
Pletcher won his first Triple Crown race in 2007 when Rags to Riches became the first filly in 102 years to capture the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes. He added “Test of the Champion” victories in 2013 [Palace Malice], 2017 [Tapwrit], and 2022 [Mo Donegal] and also won the 2010 Kentucky Derby with Super Saver and the 2017 edition with Always Dreaming.
In addition to his 15 training titles, highlights at Saratoga for Pletcher include three wins in the DraftKings Travers [Flower Alley, 2005; Stay Thirsty, 2011; and Fierceness, 2024] and four wins in the Whitney [Left Bank, 2002; Lawyer Ron, 2007; Cross Traffic, 2013; Life is Good, 2022]. He has won the Woodward six times, with three of those wins [Lawyer Ron, 2007; Quality Road, 2010; and Liam’s Map, 2015] coming at Saratoga. Last year, he won his third Jockey Club Gold Cup and first at Saratoga with Antiquarian. He is a four-time winner of the Alabama [Princess of Sylmar, 2013; Stopchargingmaria, 2014; Malathaat, 2021; and Nest, 2022].
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