White Abarrio, Sovereignty head separate ways after clash

White Abarrio and Sovereignty, the top two finishers in Saturday's Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap, are headed in different directions, their respective camps said Sunday morning.

White Abarrio was scheduled to depart Sunday for Gulfstream Park, where he is based with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., co-owner Mark Cornett said. Sovereignty will ship Monday to Churchill Downs, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said.

Next-race plans are pending for both horses, but their major year-end objective is the Breeders' Cup Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Cornett said White Abarrio would be a candidate for the $7 million Classic at 1 1/4 miles or the $1 million Dirt Mile. Mott said the Classic is Sovereignty's goal.

In maybe the most anticipated race in Oaklawn's 121-year history, White Abarrio, the 2023 Breeders' Cup Classic winner, beat reigning horse of the year Sovereignty by two lengths in the Oaklawn Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile event for older horses. Journalism, the 2025 Preakness winner, finished 1 1/4 lengths farther back in third.

"It's rare you get to see something like that," Cornett said as White Abarrio was munching hay in his stall. "I mean, when the three horses hooked up at the quarter pole, it was something."

Striking a blow for the old guard, White Abarrio, 7, bested two horses who were making their 4-year-old debuts. White Abarrio's final time of 1:47.49 generated a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 111 from Daily Racing Form and was the fastest for an Oaklawn Handicap since Cigar – the sixth of his 16 consecutive victories – ran 1:47.22 in 1995. Cigar, trained by Mott, was horse of the year in 1995 and 1996.

Cornett praised jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., a five-time Eclipse Award winner, for his ride on White Abarrio.

In what was a paceless race on paper, White Abarrio ($9.20) was the expected front-runner and led under the wire the first time. Ortiz, however, opted to take back on the first turn, surrendering the advantage to Sovereignty and Journalism, who battled through six furlongs in 1:11.27. Ortiz saved ground behind the two front-runners before guiding White Abarrio to the outside near the three-eighths pole. The three horses were lined up across the track in the upper stretch, with White Abarrio, on the outside, seizing command inside the eighth pole.

"Look, you have an idea, but it's a horse race," Cornett said. "Saffie and I, we talked it over. We were going to try to get cute and talk to Irad about maybe doing this and that and this and that. But you know what? We've got Irad on the horse for a reason. We didn't tell him anything. It was all him. Even he thought he was going to be on the lead. He did such a masterful job down on the inside. He used our horse just enough to keep Journalism and Sovereignty running into the turn and then, obviously, took back behind them."

Cornett said White Abarrio appeared to emerge from the Oaklawn Handicap in "perfect" shape physically, adding he will not race again for "two to three months."

"He likes that window, of about 80 days, roughly, and then we'll see where we're at," Cornett said. "Our main two goals are going to be the Breeders' Cup, which one I don't know right now, and the Pegasus World Cup. He'll probably, more than likely, be retired after that."

White Abarrio, in his lone other start this year, finished second behind stablemate Skippylongstocking in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park. Skippylongstocking, 7, returned to win the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) March 21 at Oaklawn. He also won the 2024 Oaklawn Handicap. White Abarrio won the 2025 Pegasus World Cup. He has won 11 of 26 career starts and earned $8,445,170.

White Abarrio's sire, Race Day, won the 2015 Oaklawn Handicap for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

Mott said Sovereignty "looked good" exiting the Oaklawn Handicap, which marked his first start since a 10-length victory in the Travers Stakes (G1) Aug. 23 at Saratoga and first against older horses. He was the 4-5 favorite in the six-horse Oaklawn Handicap field.

"He ran good," Mott said. "A little surprised, you know what I mean? I thought maybe White Abarrio would wind up on the lead. He didn't. We were kind of in between horses and, I guess, he (jockey Junior Alvarado) opted to kind of let him cruise on. If it was just him and Journalism, that was the way to go. When they were going down the backside, I saw where White Abarrio was and I said: 'We're setting it up for him.' You could see that was happening. You could see that a half-mile out. But, anyway, he ran good."

Mott said the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) June 27 at Churchill Downs, Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 8 at Saratoga and the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) Sept. 18 at Belmont Park are potential targets for Sovereignty leading up to the Breeders' Cup Classic. Sovereignty, the 2025 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, was the 6-5 program favorite for last November's Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar before being scratched with a fever.

Sovereignty had eight published workouts at Payson Park Training Center in south Florida in advance of the Oaklawn Handicap. The first was Feb. 15.

"He ran hard," Mott said. "Probably got a little tired. He's been off eight months."