The exit of Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty on Tuesday before anyone had a chance to enter Preakness added fuel to the debate over the short gap between the first two Triple Crown races.
Sovereignty is the fourth of the last seven Derby winners who will have skipped the chance to wheel back two weeks later at Pimlico. There were Country House in 2019 and Rich Strike in 2022. In 2021, Mandaloun bypassed the race nine months before his Kentucky triumph was anointed with the formal disqualification of Medina Spirit, who did go to the Preakness and finished third.
As was the case with Country House, the tap-out from the Preakness came on the Tuesday after Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and his team were celebrated as the biggest of winners at Churchill Downs. A virus began a string of physical problems for Country House, who never raced again after he was promoted to the Derby victory when stewards disqualified Maximum Security for interference.
This time, Mott and ownership at Godolphin told Preakness management they have their eyes on a five-week break for Sovereignty, whose only physical toll from the Derby appeared to be a mildly scraped pastern.
“Bill informed us they would point toward the Belmont Stakes,” 1/ST executive vice president Mike Rogers said in a terse statement Tuesday.
Sovereignty was Mott’s 14th Derby horse. The only one he sent to the Preakness was Taylor’s Special, his first in 1984. Owned by W.F. Lucas and a winner of the Louisiana Derby (G2) and the Blue Grass (G1), Taylor’s Special finished 13th at Churchill Downs two weeks before he came in fourth as the 7-2 second choice in the Preakness. His next race was not until the following winter.
Riley Tucker, owned by Zayat Stables, was Mott’s only other Preakness horse. After finishing third the month before in the 2008 Lexington (G2) at Keeneland, he came in last going off at 36-1 in Baltimore. After that he was transferred west to Bob Baffert and waited until February for his next race.
