Sovereignty juggernaut rolls on to G1 Travers Stakes

Sovereignty bids to join a rare group of horses to complete a sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes as he looks to continue his outstanding season in the “Midsummer Derby” at Saratoga on Saturday, 23 August.

Twenty Grand (1931), Shut Out (1942) and Thunder Gulch (1995) all completed the same sequence of wins, with Triple Crown winner Whirlaway also adding the Preakness Stakes to the streak in 1941.

Sovereignty’s dominance of the three-year-old colt division has included an historic first win for Godolphin in the G1 Kentucky Derby, with the Bill Mott-trained colt going on to post a convincing success in the G1 Belmont Stakes, run this year at Saratoga.

The Into Mischief homebred warmed up for the Travers Stakes with another Saratoga victory, cosily taking the G2 Jim Dandy Stakes – a race also won by Godolphin’s two previous Travers Stakes winners, Alpha (2012) and Essential Quality (2021).

Michael Banahan, Director of Bloodstock, Godolphin USA, said: “Bill couldn’t be happier with Sovereignty, who is in magnificent shape heading into the Travers. He was very pleased with his breeze with Fort Nelson last Saturday, his rider asked Sovereignty to pick it up as they came to the wire and got an instant response.

“Sovereignty has galloped beautifully since the weekend and all systems are go for the Travers. We are pleased to see Bracket Buster entered as he can keep the other speed horse occupied on the front end and hopefully get a decent pace in the race, unlike the Alabama last weekend.

“We are expecting a big performance from Sovereignty. Hopefully, he can confirm his status as the top three-year-old in the country and give Bill Mott his first Travers.”