Sovereignty comes out of Classic due to fever

DEL MAR - Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty will be scratched from the US$7 million (S$9.07 million) Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic (2,000m) at Del Mar on Nov 1 after developing a fever, trainer Bill Mott said on Oct 29.

Mott had indicated on Tuesday, Oct 28, that the early 6-5 favourite’s status was in doubt after a fever developed on the night before, and after the horse’s temperature rose again on Wednesday, the decision was made.

“If it didn’t go away, we were going to have a problem,” said Mott outside his office at Del Mar near San Diego. “And it didn’t go away.”

Mott added that after medication brought the fever down, it “jumped back up”.

“We re-treated him and, at that point, it’s not even a conversation. (Sovereignty) made the decision – that incident made the decision,” he said.

“That is what we said from the beginning: if he re-spiked, he would be out.”

Mott told FanDuel TV that Sovereignty largely seemed his normal self, although he is now being treated with antibiotics.

“He still has not missed an oat,” he said. “He’s in his haybag. He eats all the hay and alfalfa that’s on the ground, and he goes to his haybag.

“He’s got his nose in there and he seems to have an attitude – I don’t know if he knows he’s sick.”

Sovereignty won the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby (2,000m) in May to give Godolphin stable a long-awaited first victory in the first jewel of US flat racing’s Triple Crown.

He sat out the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes (1,900m) at Pimlico, then returned to win the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes (2,400m) at Saratoga, becoming the first horse to win two legs of the Triple Crown since Justify became the 13th horse to win all three in 2018.

Saturday’s Classic will highlight the two-day, 14-race, US$34 million Breeders’ Cup slate at the Del Mar racetrack.

With Sovereignty out, early favourite’s status falls to Fierceness (3-1), who finished second to Sierra Leone in 2024’s Classic at the same Del Mar track.

Fierceness, coming off a Grade 1 victory in the Pacific Classic Stakes (2,000m) at Del Mar on Aug 30, is trained by Todd Pletcher and will break from the inside post on Saturday with John Velazquez in the saddle.

Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown, also returns seeking a second straight victory, just like his 2024 winning partner, US-based jockey Flavien Prat, who stays on board.

The Coolmore-owned colt by Gun Runner is joint favourite at 3-1 followed by Japanese globetrotter and 2024 third-placed Forever Young (5-1), also the only foreign raider in the line-up, and Preakness winner Journalism (15-2).

Five other horses will be among the field of nine to go to post at 6.25pm (9.25am Singapore local time on Nov 2) – Mindframe, Baeza, Antiquarian, Nevada Beach and Contrary Thinking.

AFP