Sovereignty topped Journalism once more on Saturday night, successful the 157th operating of the Belmont Stakes and claiming two of the three Triple Crown races in 2025. This win comes only a month after Sovereignty’s Kentucky Derby win, and simply two weeks after it was held out of the Preakness Stakes.
Here’s a have a look at the race and the thrilling end.
It is an enormous win for coach Invoice Mott, but it surely additionally prompts an enormous what-if query that’s going to be requested for years in relation to Sovereignty’s legacy.
What if that they had run it within the Preakness Stakes two weeks in the past?
Sovereignty didn’t run within the second leg of the Triple Crown after successful the Kentucky Derby, opening the door for Journalism to get the win on the Preakness. However given the outcomes of the 2 races sandwiched round it there is excellent purpose to imagine that Sovereignty might have gained that race as properly and joined the very quick listing of Triple Crown winners.
Mott stated they elected to not run Sovereignty within the Preakness because of the “long-term pursuits” of the horse.
Whereas that’s actually their proper to make that call, and whereas they know the horse higher than anyone, it actually looks as if a giant missed alternative.
The final horse to finish the Triple Crown was Justify in 2018.
There have solely been 13 horses to win all three races, and solely two since 1978 (American Pharoah additionally did it in 2015).
Successful two-thirds of the Triple Crown, together with the Kentucky Derby, remains to be a major achievement and can put Sovereignty among the many all-time greats within the sport. It’s simply the 53rd time a horse has gained even two of the races.
However whether or not anyone related to the horse is prepared to confess it or not the looming “what if” going to virtually actually be one thing that sticks with all of them given how shut they had been legendary standing.
