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After Sovereignty's resounding win in the Kentucky Derby, the horse's connections famously decided to skip the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, and point to the Belmont Stakes instead. That decision will be widely panned if Sovereignty fails to win the final jewel of the Triple Crown Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.

2 Sovereignty (2-1)

  • Trainer Bill Mott
  • Jockey Junior Alvarado
  • Last race 1st in the Kentucky Derby by 1½ lengths
  • Career record 6 starts: 3 wins, 2 seconds
  • Career earnings $3,672,800
  • Best career Beyer Speed Figure 104 (2025 Kentucky Derby)
  • Sire Into Mischief

Below, we'll dig further into Sovereignty as part of our series profiling all the horses competing in the 157th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7. We'll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered Saturday and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.

Belmont Stakes profiles 1 Hill Road | 2 Sovereignty | 3 Rodriguez | 4 Uncaged | 5 Crudo | 6 Baeza | 7 Journalism | 8 Heart of Honor

Belmont Stakes picks Michelle Yu | Gene Menez | Jody Demling | Jeff Hochman

What to know about Sovereignty

Journalism may have entered the Kentucky Derby as the sport's next big star, but Sovereignty was the horse who exited the Derby atop the 3-year-old class. He beat Journalism fair and square that day, beating the horse many thought could not be topped. The victory was Sovereignty's third in his last four starts and earned a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure.

The connections of Sovereignty, of course, decided to bypass the Preakness Stakes and point to the Belmont Stakes instead. As trainer Bill Mott told DRF.com, "We didn't feel like [running]."

Regardless of what you think of the decision, the horse enters the Belmont Stakes fresher than Journalism, who endured a rough trip in winning the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago. Sovereignty certainly has trained like a rested horse, working four furlongs in 48:40 seconds Sunday. 

The pace scenario for the Belmont does not set up as favorably for the late-running Sovereignty as it did in the Kentucky Derby, where virtually all of the speed horses weren't around at the end. Just two speed horses, Rodriguez and Crudo, are in the field, which could make rallying from the back from the pack much more difficult. Sovereignty has proven he can close into slow paces so there's no reason that he should't come charging down the lane like he did in Louisville. 

Despite Sovereignty's victory in the Kentucky Derby, Journalism has been installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite in the Kentucky Derby odds at FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET, with Sovereignty the 2-1 second choice.

Post draw analysis

Since Sovereignty will be rallying from near the back of the back Saturday, the post position will have little effect on the horse's chances, and post No. 2 is as good as any other. From there, jockey Junior Alvarado should be able to save ground much more easily than he did in the Kentucky Derby, when he left from post No. 16. In the Derby, Alvarado found himself right behind Journalism, which allowed him to watch that horse's every move, and those same tactics will be much easier to pull off in the smaller field of the Belmont.