Topped champion 3-year-old male earlier within the night, Sovereignty ascended to racing’s most prestigious honor Jan. 22 when named Horse of the Yr on the Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards ceremony at The Breakers Palm Seashore in South Florida.
Godolphin’s homebred bay son of Into Mischief out of the Bernardini mare Topped , a twin basic winner in 2025, prevailed in Horse of the Yr voting over older rivals who commanded the highlight within the fall. Eclipse Award voters included these from the Nationwide Thoroughbred Racing Affiliation, consisting of racetrack officers and Equibase area personnel, plus voters from Each day Racing Kind and the Nationwide Turf Writers and Broadcasters.Horse of the Yr: Sovereignty, 201; Eternally Younger, 17; Ted Noffey, 2.
The Horse of the Yr end result displays the authority with which Sovereignty managed the North American 3-year-old male division from spring by late summer time.
The colt turns into the second Horse of the Yr for proprietor/breeder Godolphin in three seasons, following Cody’s Want in 2023. For Corridor of Fame coach Invoice Mott, Sovereignty turns into his third secure star to assert Horse of the Yr, becoming a member of Cody’s Want and the legendary Cigar, who earned back-to-back Horse of the Yr titles in 1995 and 1996.
In recognition of his coaching of Sovereignty and different accomplishments all year long, Mott added one other milestone to his Corridor of Fame profession when he was honored together with his fifth Eclipse Award as excellent coach. He’s tied with the late Bobby Frankel and lively coach Chad Brown for second with 5 such awards, trailing solely Todd Pletcher with eight. Frankel and Pletcher are additionally Corridor of Famers.Join BloodHorse Each day
“We have had some good horses, however he is clearly the perfect 3-year-old I’ve ever skilled, or had my palms on, I might say,” Mott stated final week. “In fact, there’s been another good horses, however they in all probability did not develop till they have been (ages) 4 or 5, however he was excellent.”
Godolphin additionally secured its fifth consecutive twin titles as excellent proprietor and excellent breeder.
Picture: Coglianese PhotosSovereignty wins the 2025 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Sovereignty went 5-for-6 in 2025, with victories within the Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1), and Travers Stakes (G1) being his seasonal highlights. He additionally captured the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) to launch his yr and the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) as a prelude to a 10-length romp within the Travers. His lone defeat got here within the Florida Derby (G1), the place he completed second below substitute rider Manny Franco whereas common jockey Junior Alvarado was sidelined with a shoulder damage.
Reunited with Alvarado at Churchill Downs on the primary Saturday in Could, Sovereignty delivered a defining efficiency within the Kentucky Derby, the primary leg of the Triple Crown, wowing a rain-soaked Churchill Downs’ crowd of 147,406 by catching favored Journalism and defeating him by 1 1/2 lengths over a sloppy observe. His victory gave Godolphin a uncommon Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby double when paired with Good Cheer ‘s victory within the Kentucky Oaks (G1) for 3-year-old fillies the day gone by.
His victory gave Godolphin, based by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, an elusive first victory within the Run for the Roses.
“Properly, it was a really particular weekend with the Oaks and the Derby, however to lastly get a win for Sheikh Mohammed within the Godolphin colours was actually an important one to mark off of the listing,” Godolphin USA director of bloodstock Michael Banahan stated.
Although it didn’t have an effect on the official Derby outcomes, Alvarado was fined and suspended for exceeding the permitted variety of strikes together with his using crop within the race. Kentucky stewards decided Alvarado struck Sovereignty eight instances in the course of the Derby, above the six-strike restrict to a horse’s hindquarters.
Fairly than comply with custom in pursuit of a Triple Crown bid, Mott and the Godolphin staff elected to bypass the Preakness Stakes (G1) two weeks after the Derby, a call that rankled Triple Crown purists. Sovereignty’s connections felt that skipping the second leg of the Triple Crown would protect Sovereignty for an extended, extra productive 3-year-old marketing campaign. Journalism received the Preakness in his absence.
5 weeks after the Derby within the Belmont Stakes, the third and ultimate leg of the Triple Crown, a recent Sovereignty once more proved superior to Journalism, the one 3-year-old to race in all three legs of the collection in 2025. He defeated him by 3 lengths, with Baeza displaying, as he did within the Derby.
As in 2024, the 2025 Belmont Stakes was run at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga Race Course, reasonably than its customary 1 1/2-mile distance at Belmont Park, as a result of Belmont Park is present process renovations.
Sovereignty’s victories within the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes successfully sealed his Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male, even when his résumé stops simply in need of inclusion among the many sport’s 13 Triple Crown legends.
Seven months after the conclusion of the Triple Crown, Banahan stated he has no regrets about skipping the Preakness.
Extra accomplishments over the summer time would add to Sovereignty’s case for Horse of the Yr. Remaining primarily based at Mott’s Saratoga secure, he returned from the Triple Crown to edge Baeza by a size within the July 26 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) there earlier than delivering a commanding 10-length victory within the Aug. 23 Travers, turning into the primary horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy, and Travers in the identical season.
“It is nearly such as you watch it, and also you nearly surprise, is that this actually taking place?” Mott stated.
Sovereignty by no means confronted older horses over the second half of the yr, having been scratched from the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Traditional (G1) at Del Mar after growing a fever within the days main as much as the race. However his physique of labor was enough to face up to comparisons to older horses comparable to Eternally Younger and Sierra Leone , the highest two finishers from the Breeders’ Cup Traditional.
Sovereignty stays in coaching, having rejoined Mott at his Payson Park secure in South Florida in early January, which means the colt has an opportunity to change into the primary horse since Smart Dan in 2012-13 to win back-to-back Horse of the Yr honors. Preliminary plans name for Sovereignty to be introduced alongside conservatively, starting with the tip in thoughts for 2026—that being the Breeders’ Cup Traditional at Keeneland this fall. Mott characterised it as unlikely that Sovereignty would journey to the Center East this spring for the March 28 Dubai World Cup (G1), a race created by Sheikh Mohammed.
