Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty has been scratched and will not run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday (November 1) after catching a fever this week, taking the favourite out of the $7 million world championship race.
The Breeders’ Cup announced the scratch of the country’s top 3-year-old horse on Wednesday after trainer Bill Mott told the Daily Racing Form about the decision he and his camp made. Mott had previously said Sovereignty not racing was a possibility.
“It’s not good for the race; it’s not good for racing,” said Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, who won the Classic five times. “Any time you have a great horse that doesn’t run when planned, it’s disappointing. But the horse is going to be fine. It was a fever. Just the timing is terrible.”
Sovereignty opened as a heavy 6-5 morning line favourite in the field of 10, which also includes Derby and Belmont runner-up and Preakness winner Journalism. The Breeders’ Cup Classic was expected to determine the horse of the year.
The adjusted odds made Fierceness the new favorite at 5-2. Fellow 4-year-olds Forever Young and Sierra Leone, the reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic champ, are 7-2, while Journalism is 5-1.aa
