Kentucky Derby Winner Sovereignty Not Yet Confirmed for Preakness Stakes | See Probable Starters

BALTIMORE, MD – While Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sovereignty’s status for the 150th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 17 at Pimlico Race Course was still undecided Monday morning, his team continued to marvel how well Godolphin’s standout 3-year-old colt has rebounded out of his stretch-long battle with runner-up Journalism last Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Assistant trainer Kenny McCarthy, who oversees the Churchill Downs operation for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, reported that Sovereignty again ate up his evening meal Sunday in 20 minutes.

“Another repeat performance,” McCarthy said. “He’s been one horse that never misses an oat. Obviously, we monitor that closely, because (not eating) is a sign that maybe something’s not quite right. But again, we put in his tub and in 20 minutes he’s finished his feed and looking for more.”

Sovereignty settled near the rear of the 19-horse Derby field before rallying behind Journalism while making a wide sweep into the homestretch and overtaking the favorite by 1 ½ lengths.

“When you thought about it all, we had three great weeks of training here,” McCarthy said.  “The walkover went so perfectly, smoothly for us. He saddled great. Once we legged the jockey (Junior Alvarado) up, at that stage it was out of our hands. But reflecting back on everything we’d done to get to that point, you’d say there was absolutely nothing we would have changed. And that’s a good feeling to have when one is going out there.”

McCarthy has worked for Mott for 29 years. He had Sovereignty in his barn last fall when the strapping Into Mischief colt earned his first victory in Churchill Downs’ Street Sense (G3) at 1 1/16 miles. Finishing second that day was future Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Tiztastic. Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Sandman was third. McCarthy also runs Mott’s Gulfstream Park winter division while the Hall of Fame trainer is based at Payson Park in Indiantown, Fla.

Sovereignty ran twice at Gulfstream Park, winning the Fountain of Youth (G2) off the four-month layoff by a neck over River Thames. Sovereignty returned in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) with Manny Franco filling in for the injured Alvarado. He closed to finish second behind Tappan Street, who wound up missing the Derby with a leg injury. 

“As a 2-year-old here, he had a huge frame to him,” McCarthy said of Sovereignty. “He’s a big horse. I’d say the change we’d seen, when he first came down to Gulfstream, he had filled that out very impressively. His second start down there, we wanted to win, but sometimes in getting beat it teaches the horse that next lesson they have to learn to dig in. I think we saw that on Saturday. When they turned for home, he and Journalism were shoulder to shoulder. It was going to be a horse race from there, and who was the strongest?”

Michael Banahan, Godolphin’s director of bloodstock, reiterated Monday morning on the satellite radio show At The Races with Steve Byk, that a decision is likely “in the next couple of days” about running in the Preakness Stakes.

“We fully respect what the Triple Crown means for the industry, for racing in America,” Banahan told Byk. “Most importantly, the decision will be made to do what’s best for the horse. … It looks like he’s come out of the race well. He did have a scrape on his pastern that needed to be treated somewhat. We’ll just see how he gets over that, what his energy levels are going to be like. That is always the question that’s asked the minute the winner goes by the finish line under the Twin Spires: ‘Is he going to run in the Preakness?’

“We talked to the people at Pimlico (via phone Sunday morning) and said we’d take it under consideration, and we’re very appreciative of their invitation to run in the Preakness,” Banahan continued. “[Trainer Bill Mott] will see how he responds, how the team thinks the horse is doing, and we’ll huddle up in probably in the next couple of days. We won’t wait too long, because if he’s pulled in that direction, we need to get him placed to do that.”

Assistant trainer Justin Curran, who runs Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy’s Churchill Downs division, reported that Kentucky Derby runner-up and beaten favorite Journalism is doing well and is likely to resume training Wednesday. No decision has been made on the Preakness.

Journalism is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta and Elayne Stables 5 LLC. The Coolmore associates Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith procured the breeding rights to Journalism after he won Santa Anita’s San Felipe (G2) and are included in the racing ownership as lessees.

Four straight days of rainy weather in Louisville and another sloppy track Monday has impacted training for some horses.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert postponed his return to California to monitor the weather and track as he determines his Pimlico-bound contingent, including Preakness candidate Rodriguez.

“We’re planning on going with Rodriguez,” Baffert said of the Wood Memorial (G2) winner whom he scratched from the Derby because of a minor but untimely foot bruise. “Citizen Bull (the 2-year-old champion who finished 15th in the Derby after setting a swift pace from the No. 1 post), I doubt if I’m taking him.”

Baffert, a record eight-time Preakness winner, then reflected on how his decision can change rapidly once he sees how the horses came out of the Derby.

“I remember Point Given, I wasn’t taking him,” he said of the 2001 beaten Derby favorite who went on to win the Preakness, Belmont Stakes (G1), Haskell Invitational (G1) and Travers (G1) to be voted Horse of the Year. “Lookin At Lucky, he wasn’t going. Then come Monday, I called them up and said, ‘We’re going. Not only are we going, we’re going to win.’ It takes about a week, five days” to properly evaluate the horses. 

Rodriguez galloped over the sloppy Churchill Downs surface Monday.

“The foot is fine now,” Baffert said. “It was one of those things. We can’t run a horse over a track like that when (the bruise) is fresh.”

Goal Oriented, who earned his second victory in two starts in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on the Derby undercard, is being considered for Pimlico’s Sir Barton Stakes.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas confirmed Monday that he intends to run BC Stable’s American Promise in the Preakness.

American Promise had a very difficult trip in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday and ended up 16^th in the field of 19.

Lukas said that that American Promise was twice compromised in the Derby. The first problem occurred at the start when Citizen Bull, who drew the rail, bore out in his attempt to get to the lead. American Promise was in Post 4.

“We didn’t get the chance to do what we wanted to do,” Lukas said. “He got wiped out at the gate by the one-hole coming over. Actually, three of us took a beating on that. Then he made up good ground, and when he was ready to make a move, they shut him down again.”

Lukas, 89, will be seeking his record-tying eighth victory in the Preakness. He earned his seventh win last year with Seize the Gry, owned by MyRacehorse. Baffert, who is pointing Rodriguez for the Preakness, holds the stakes record for victories.

American Promise, winner of the Virginia Derby by 7 ¾ lengths at Colonial Downs on March 15, was 12-1 in the Derby. After all the trouble he encountered, the son of 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify ended up 38 lengths behind Godolphin’s winner, Sovereignty.

“The best horse won,” Lukas said. “That’s unusual because the Derby winner isn’t always the best horse, but it was this trip. It was a very good effort by Bill Mott’s horse. Actually, the second-place horse (Journalism) ran real well, too.”

Lukas won with his first Preakness runner, Codex, in 1980. American Promise will be Lukas’ 49^th starter in his 33^rd Preakness. Lukas added that Bathhouse Row runner-up (Caldera) would not run in the Preakness. 

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen for the third day postponed a workout for Preakness contender Clever Again, who won Oaklawn Park’s March 30 Hot Springs Stakes at a two-turn mile in only his third career start. Clever Again, owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and a partnership associated with the international Coolmore racing and stallion operation, debuted in April 2024, finishing second by a head at 4 ½ furlongs, then was sidelined until winning a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Oaklawn in February. 

Trainer Brendan Walsh has Gosger under Preakness consideration, with Keeneland’s Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G2) victor training at the Lexington track. Gosger worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:00 on May 1.

Gosger races for the estate of breeder Harvey Clarke, who bred and sold 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another. Gosger’s second dam, Arch’s Gal Edith, is the dam of I’ll Have Another. His sire, Nyquist, won the 2016 Derby before finishing third (a nose out of second) in the Preakness won by Derby runner-up Exaggerator.

WinStar Farm LLC, CHC Inc., Pantofel Stable LLC and Wachtel Stable LLC’s River Thames, who finished second behind Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty in the March 1 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park, is slated to run in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown after bypassing the Kentucky Derby. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the son of Maclean’s Music checked in third in the April 8 Blue Grass (G1) in his most recent start.

Trainer Jamie Osborne is pointing Jim and Claire Limited’s Heart of Honor, runner-up in the April 5 UAE Derby (G2) at Meydan, to the Preakness. The English-bred son of A.P. Honor compiled a record of 2-3-0 in five starts at Meydan following a runner-up finish in his career debut at Southwell (England) last fall.

RKTN Racing LLC’s Pay Billy earned an automatic entry into the Preakness by capturing the April 19 Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park. The Mike Gorham-trained son of Improbable won the Private Terms in his previous start at Laurel.