The four-year-old Into Mischief colt Sovereignty is the week’s biggest climber in the TRC World Rankings. Saturday’s success in the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga lifts him from 15th to fifth, and he is now the leading American horse.
Sovereignty was named Horse of the Year in the United States last season after victories in two of the Triple Crown legs, the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Belmont Stakes (G1). He did not line up in the second leg of the series, the Preakness Stakes (G1).
The three races are run over five weeks – a fortnight between the first two and three weeks to the last – so winning the Triple Crown is a tall order.
Later in the season he also took the Travers Stakes (G1), while he was scratched shortly before the off in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). That same Breeders’ Cup Classic is likely to be the big target this season, before a future at stud awaits.
This was his first win of a campaign that opened with second and third places. In the saddle, as always, was Junior Alvarado, and the trainer is Bill Mott – both among the leading names in the United States.
Filling second, beaten just under five lengths, came Nitrogen (Medaglia d’Oro) in a dead heat with Antiquarian (Preservationist).
