Kentucky Derby works: Tappan Street, Sovereignty breeze

Tappan Street and Sovereignty, who finished 1-2 in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, breezed to their trainers’ satisfaction Friday morning at Payson Park while preparing for their scheduled starts in the May 3 Kentucky Derby.

Tappan Street, who defeated Sovereignty by 1 1/4 lengths in Gulfstream Park’s premier Triple Crown prep March 29, breezed a half-mile while racing in company with 3-year-old stablemate Rapture at the Indiantown, Fla., training center.

“He went very well. I had him in 48-and-2, 1:01-and-3. It was a good move, executed very, very well. Obviously, inside of Rapture. It was maybe even better than expected,” trainer Brad Cox said. “I didn’t do a tremendous amount with him. He was under a good hold throughout. Great move. Good horse, good move.”

Sovereignty, who captured the March 1 Fountain of Youth (G2) in his 2025 debut prior to his runner-up finish in the Florida Derby, breezed a half-mile in 48.4 seconds for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

“He was into it. He’s not a great work horse, but he went well,” Mott said. “Good sign that we’re able to keep going.”

Tappan Street, who had won on debut and finished second in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream before turning in a thoroughly professional performance in the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby, has remained at Payson Park because of Cox’s concerns about the inclement weather that Kentucky has been experiencing.

“He’s stepped up. He’s obviously worked with some good horses throughout the winter and held his own. (He’s had) three good runs throughout the winter at Gulfstream with the Florida Derby,” Cox said. “He definitely hasn’t regressed. He’s really doing well.

“I think we’ll probably stay here for one more (work). I’ve kind of been watching the weather, but he’s just doing so well here, I wish they’d run the Kentucky Derby here,” Cox said, noting that Tappan Street had handled the Churchill Downs surface well while training over it last summer.

Cox is confident that Tappan Street will be mentally as well as physically prepared for the Kentucky Derby.

“He's a smart horse, and he’s a good gate horse. That’s obviously very key with the Kentucky Derby, breaking well, but his first steps in his three starts, he gets away well. He gets away very well, and I think that’s important,” he said. “Mentally, he’s a good horse. Handles everything we’ve asked of him. Very intelligent. I think his mind is one of his best attributes.”

Tappan Street is scheduled to breeze at Payson Park next Friday or Saturday before having his final breeze for the Derby at Churchill Downs the following weekend.

Sovereignty is tentatively slated to ship to Churchill Downs Sunday.

“I’m considering shipping him Sunday. I’ll recheck the weather up there. I don’t want to go up there if they’re going to have a week of rain. Probably stay here if that’s going to be the case,” Mott said. “I thought I’d probably want to have a couple works over the (Churchill Downs) track.”

The strapping, long-striding Sovereignty, who captured the Street Sense (G2) at Churchill Downs by five lengths in his juvenile campaign finale, was "a little difficult to get started" this year.

“We were thinking about one race earlier and he had a fever. We thought, ‘We’ll try to map it out so we can get at least two races in him before the Derby,’ ” Mott said. “We missed the first one, but we were able to make the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby. We got two out of the three.”

Although Sovereignty missed a race, Mott expressed confidence that he is well-suited to the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Kentucky Derby while acknowledging that his Fountain of Youth winner’s deep-closing running style could go against him.

Meanwhile at Gulfstream Park, Neoequos, who finished a distance third in the Curlin Florida Derby, breezed a half-mile in 49.63 seconds for a possible start in the American Turf (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

“It was just a maintenance work, so they were happy with him,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “This is his first work back. We haven’t decided exactly what we’re going to do with him. There is a possibility he could run in the Grade 1 turf race they have that day, but it hasn’t been finalized yet. He’s going to work on the turf next week, and then we’ll decide. Nothing’s really set in stone yet.”