Sovereignty reigns again, wins Jim Dandy at Saratoga

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Sovereignty continued his winning ways on Saturday at Saratoga when he added the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes to his Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes victories. In doing so, he reaffirmed his position as the top 3-year-old in the country.

Sent off as the 1-2 favorite in the field of five racing 1 1/8 miles, Sovereignty stayed close to the early pace as he had done in the Belmont Stakes, which also was run at Saratoga. When the time came and his regular jockey Júnior Alvarado asked the son of Into Mischief to make his closing move, he responded and immediately engaged the leader Mo Plex while having to race in the seven path around the final turn.

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Coming out of the starting gate on a warm, summer day, New York-bred Mo Plex stumbled a bit and went to the lead near the rail, although maybe not as quickly as was anticipated.

Sovereignty was in second, just off the rail, a half-length behind the pacesetter. Baeza, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont, was right behind Sovereignty in the early going. Sandman was in fourth position in his first start since finishing third in Preakness. Hill Road was fifth.

“He came out of there aggressively a little bit more today, even more than the last time,” Alvarado said about Sovereignty. “He pulled himself right away, which is very lovely. He got his forward position and got out of trouble right away.”

Sovereignty and Baeza swapped positions in the early going while behind Mo Plex, who set rather slow fractions of 24.48, 48.49 and 1:12.42.

Sovereignty was full of run coming out of the second turn as was Baeza. They both were making up ground on Mo Plex, but Sovereignty was first to engage Mo Plex at the quarter pole. He opened up a half-length lead at the stretch call and hit the wire one length ahead of Baeza with final time of 1:49.52.

“I wasn’t worried about any horse. I just needed to ride my horse. When I asked him, right after we turned for home, he took off,” Alvarado said. “Then after that, once again, just doing enough to keep him in the lead without really asking him for his best.”

Sovereignty gave Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott a fifth victory in the Jim Dandy. Mott won the local prep race for the Travers (G1) for the first time in 1990 and then in 1995, 1998 and 2017.

“It looked like (Alvarado) asked him to go to them, and he did exactly what he asked him to do,” Mott said. “When he came out of the turn, it looked like things were going our way. I thought he put a little more distance on Baeza approaching the eighth pole. It looked like Baeza came back at him a little bit. I think 70 yards before the wire, we were pulling away again.”

From eight starts, Sovereignty earned his fifth win, all in graded stakes, to go with a pair of seconds and a debut fourth. With the $275,000 first-place money Saturday, his total earnings increased to $5,147,800.

Sovereignty paid $3.00 and 2.10 for win and place. There was no show wagering. Baeza finished second as the 3-1 second betting choice and completed a $2 exacta that paid $6.00. Hill Road rallied for third from fifth as the 18-1 long shot and produced a $2 trifecta of $20.20. Mo Plex ended up finishing fourth. Sandman was never a factor in the race and was last.

“He's been a little bit relaxed coming into this,” Mott said about Sovereignty. “The longer we got in between races, he was a little more laid back in his gallops coming into this the last 10 days or so, and I thought I hope that is a good thing. You want a horse doing his work and doing it relaxed, not being overly anxious. But it was a little bit of a change where he wasn’t pulling too hard in his gallops. I was frankly, any little change you are looking at, and you wonder if it is a good thing or a bad thing, and as it turned out, I think it was OK.”

With all the victories in Mott’s career, amazingly the Travers has alluded him.

“The mid-summer derby, the Travers, is important to me, Mott said looking forward to the Aug. 23 feature. “It is a race I’ve never won, and I’d really like to win it before I check out (laughs). We’ll give it our best go.”