Sovereignty topped Journalism again on Saturday evening, winning the 157th running of the Belmont Stakes and claiming two of the three Triple Crown races in 2025. This win comes just a month after Sovereignty’s Kentucky Derby win, and just two weeks after it was held out of the Preakness Stakes.
Here is a look at the race and the thrilling finish.
It’s a huge win for trainer Bill Mott, but it also prompts a huge what-if question that is going to be asked for years when it comes to Sovereignty’s legacy.
What if they had run it in the Preakness Stakes two weeks ago?
Sovereignty did not run in the second leg of the Triple Crown after winning the Kentucky Derby, opening the door for Journalism to get the win at the Preakness. But given the results of the two races sandwiched around it there is very good reason to believe that Sovereignty could have won that race as well and joined the very short list of Triple Crown winners.
Mott said they elected not to run Sovereignty in the Preakness due to the “long-term interests” of the horse.
While that is certainly their right to make that decision, and while they know the horse better than anybody, it certainly seems like a big missed opportunity.
The last horse to complete the Triple Crown was Justify in 2018.
There have only been 13 horses to win all three races, and only two since 1978 (American Pharoah also did it in 2015).
Winning two-thirds of the Triple Crown, including the Kentucky Derby, is still a significant achievement and will put Sovereignty among the all-time greats in the sport. It is just the 53rd time a horse has won even two of the races.
But whether anybody associated with the horse is willing to admit it or not the looming “what if” going to almost certainly be something that sticks with all of them given how close they were legendary status.
