Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not run in the Preakness Stakes, officials announced Tuesday, meaning there won't be a Triple Crown champion for a seventh consecutive year.
''We received a call today from trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not be competing in the Preakness," said Mike Rogers, executive VP of 1/ST Racing, which operates the Preakness. ''We extend our congratulations to the connections of Sovereignty and respect their decision."
Mott told Preakness officials the plan will be to enter Sovereignty in 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 in the name of long-term interests.
''We want to do what's best for the horse,'' he told reporters at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. ''Of course, you always think about a Triple Crown, and that's not something we're not going to think about.''
Sovereignty won a muddy Derby with jockey Junior Alvarado at odds of 7-1 by passing favorite Journalism down the stretch.
Owner Godolphin's U.S. director of bloodstock, Michael Banahan, deferred an explanation to Mott in a text message sent to The Associated Press, calling it a team decision that ''both feel it's the right direction for the horse going forward.'' A message left for Mott was not immediately returned.
This is the fifth time since Justify won all three races in 2018 that the Preakness will go on without a true shot at a Triple Crown. Elevated winner Country House and Maximum Security, who was disqualified for interference, each did not participate in 2019, the races were run out of order in 2020, Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit was DQ'd for a positive drug test in 2021 and long shot Rich Strike was held out in 2022 to rest him for the previously planned five weeks.
Mage finished third in the Preakness in 2023, and Mystik Dan was second last year after his owner and trainer also were initially reluctant to run him. The two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness and changes in modern racing have sparked debate around the sport about spacing out the races.
