Kentucky Derby Winner Sovereignty Set to Miss Preakness Stakes

Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not compete in the Preakness Stakes, trainer Bill Mott informed Mike Rogers, the executive vice president of 1/ST Racing.

There will be no horse racing Triple Crown this year. pic.twitter.com/YQievK8yRj

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Safety First

Damn you, Bill Mott! Yes, that’s the same Bill Mott who decided to skip the Preakness and instead prepare for the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the three Triple Crown races, on June 7th. That means there’s no hope for a Triple Crown winner, and the wait continues for the next equine extraordinaire to join the 13 others who have won all three legs over its 150-year history.

The last to accomplish the feat was Justify in 2018, but since that time, it has become increasingly common for Derby winners to skip the Preakness. This will be the third time since 2019 that the Derby winner has snubbed what has become the cubic zirconia of racing’s three crown jewels.

June 9, 2018: Justify wins the Triple Crown pic.twitter.com/yqxReRIrum

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When Michael Banahan, the director of USA bloodstock for Sovereignty owner Godolphin, was asked after the Derby whether Sovereignty would be entering the Preakness, he said, “I think we’re going to leave that up to the trainer. He’s in the Hall of Fame for a lot of good reasons. [Sovereignty] ran really hard today. And especially when you get a closer from off the pace like that, they have to lay their body on the line a little bit.

“We’ll see how he comes out of it,” Banahan added.

Preakness Snub

Mike Rogers, executive vice president of 1/ST, released a statement on Tuesday saying, “We received a call today from trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not be competing in the Preakness. Bill informed us they would point toward the Belmont Stakes. We extend our congratulations to the connections of Sovereignty and respect their decision.”

🚨 News from the barn of Bill Mott pic.twitter.com/pPVwnnAJyZ

— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) May 6, 2025

That was the news horse racing fans dreaded yet completely expected. The rumors regarding Mott pulling his prized colt from the Preakness began to circulate shortly after he crossed the finish line.

“We want to do what’s best for the horse,” Mott 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.”

Look, I’m not a Hall of Fame horse trainer, but it seems to me that this is becoming a worrisome trend because no injury was reported. This means that Mott planned to skip the Preakness all along, and pretty soon, this will become the unfortunate norm. People tend to follow trends, especially when influential people, like Mott, are setting them.

Maybe billionaire owner Mike Repole said it best when he posted his opinion about the short two-week turnaround between the Derby and the Preakness, writing, “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.”