Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty won’t run in the Preakness, dashing Triple Crown possibility

Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not run in the Preakness Stakes, officials announced Tuesday, meaning there won’t be a Triple Crown champion for a seventh consecutive year.

“We received a call today from trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not be competing in the Preakness,” said Mike Rogers, executive VP of 1/ST Racing, which operates the Preakness. “We extend our congratulations to the connections of Sovereignty and respect their decision.”

Mott told Preakness officials the plan will be to enter Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown, on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. Mott on Sunday morning had foreshadowed skipping the Preakness in the name of long-term interests.

“We want to do what’s best for the horse,” he told reporters at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. “Of course, you always think about a Triple Crown, and that’s not something we’re not going to think about.”

Sovereignty won a muddy Derby with jockey Junior Alvarado at odds of 7-1 by passing favorite Journalism down the stretch.

United Arab Emirates-based Godolphin owns Sovereignty. A call and a message sent by The Associated Press to Godolphin’s U.S. director of bloodstock, Michael Banahan, were not immediately returned.

This is the fourth time since Justify won all three races in 2018 that the Preakness will go on without a true shot at a Triple Crown. The two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness and changes in modern racing have sparked debate around the sport about spacing out the races.

Prominent owner Mike Repole earlier Tuesday posted on social media a proposal to move the Belmont to second in the Triple Crown order, four weeks after the Kentucky Derby and sliding the Preakness back further with the aim of keeping more of the top horses involved.

“The Preakness being run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, in this new day and age in racing, shows the lack of vision and leadership needed to evolve this sport,” Repole wrote. “I expect the top three finishers of this year’s Derby to skip the Preakness and go right to the Belmont.”

No decision has been made on second-place finisher Journalism or third-place Baeza for the 150th running of the Preakness, the last at Pimlico Race Course before it is knocked down and rebuilt.

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AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing