Sovereignty sets sights on G1 DraftKings Travers after G2 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun score

 

• Sovereignty sets sights on G1 DraftKings Travers after G2 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun score
• Smoken Wicked earns 101 BSF for G2 Amsterdam pres. by Albany Med Health System
• Hotazhell, Juwelier and Tiberius Thunder ship in for G1 Saratoga Derby Invitational

Godolphin’s dual Classic-winning homebred Sovereignty had a successful prep for the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers when taking the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun by one length on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. 

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets-winner was guided to victory by regular pilot Junior Alvarado, who allowed the often late-footed son of Into Mischief to utilize prominent tactics and stick close to the pace set by Mo Plex through splits of 24.54 seconds, 48.49, 1:12.42 over the fast main track. 

Sovereignty was briefly last-of-5 in the turn as late runners Sandman and Hill Road advanced into contention, but a confident Alvarado needed to wait only a few strides to press the gas and was soon at the front of the field with a wide move. Baeza was game to his inside as Mo Plex faded, but Sovereignty was much-the-best and swept past Baeza inside the final eighth to win comfortably in a final time of 1:49.52. 

Mott said he was pleased to see Sovereignty prove superior again in his first start since his three-length Belmont Stakes coup. 

“He looks good. I was happy with his job,” Mott said. “I was a little nervous beforehand because the expectations were pretty high, but he took care of that for me.”

Mott added there were few tense moments for him when Sovereignty briefly lost position.  

“Not really, no. It’s never over until it’s over,” Mott said. “There were no more nervous moments at that point than there were before the race.”

With a successful prep race now under his belt, Sovereignty will continue to train at Saratoga on the path to the 10-furlong Travers on August 23 here. 

“He’ll walk for two or three days and then have a few easy days on the track and maybe he’ll have a couple works before the Travers,” Mott said. “He’s had a race now, so we’ll probably work him a couple times. Nothing fancy or different.”

Mott, a 15-time Breeders’ Cup winner with two-thirds of the Triple Crown and a Group 1 Dubai World Cup win on his resume, is in search of his first win in the Travers, a race that serves as the centerpiece of the meeting at his home track. 

“It’s probably our best chance so far to do it,” Mott said. “I’ve gone into it with some chances before, but this would have to be the biggest chance. Now the expectations are high, so it’s one of those situations where as long as he’s running well, he’s always going to be one of the favorites. Everybody’s expectations are high.” 

Last year’s Grade 1 Whitney-winner Arthur’s Ride finished a flat third in a nine-furlong optional claiming tilt on Saturday in his first start since finishing off-the-board in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Del Mar. 

The son of Tapit lunged at the start and tracked in third under Alvarado before being asked in the far turn with a three-to-four-wide move and coming up empty 8 1/4 lengths behind the victorious Film Star. 

Arthur’s Ride is a typical frontrunner and had a slow start, but Mott was reluctant to make excuses for the 5-year-old Tapit horse. 

“I wasn’t happy with it. There was nothing about it that I liked,” Mott said. “I can’t make excuses for him. He was in position, and he didn’t do it. We’ve got to sit down and determine what’s next. There’s no [immediate] plan moving forward.” 

Arthur’s Ride was an emphatic 2 1/4-length winner of last year’s Whitney, which came on the heels of a 12 3/4-length optional claiming romp going 10 furlongs at the Spa. He holds a 10-4-2-1 record with $819,355 in total purse earnings.

Smoken Wicked earns 101 BSF for G2 Amsterdam pres. by Albany Med Health System

Valene Farms’ Smoken Wicked returned to the site of his Grade 2-placing to dominate at that level in Friday’s $200,000 Amsterdam presented by Albany Med Health System, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Dallas Stewart, the dual Louisiana-bred stakes-winning Bobby’s Wicked One chestnut finished third in last year’s local Grade 2 Saratoga Special ahead of fourths in the Grade 1 Hopeful here and the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont at the Big A. 

In the Amsterdam, Smoken Wicked pressured the favored Macho Music en route to a 5 3/4-length score over Gunmetal, earning a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure and putting him under consideration for the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday, August 23 here. 

“He seemed like he’s handled it very well and the race didn’t knock him down. His energy is very good. He looks good. All the things we like to see,” said Stewart. “We’re going to look at it [H. Allen Jerkens Memorial]. The horse is going to remain there and stay there. We will leave him there, see how he trains, and go from there, one day at a time.”

Smoken Wicked entered Friday’s score from a second to undefeated Verifire in the Listed Maxfield on June 29 at Churchill Downs, and his last previous win came in the state-bred Louisiana Futurity in December at Fair Grounds Race Course. 

“He ran very impressively,” Stewart said. “He looked great in the paddock. I thought he’d run very well. He handled himself very well against stiff, very good competition. We’re excited about his race and very proud of him.” 

Stewart said Smoken Wicked’s tactical speed under Brian Hernandez, Jr., was key in defeating Macho Music, who beat him 11 1/2 lengths in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile in May at Churchill Downs. 

“Macho Music is a very accomplished horse who won the Pat Day Mile, and we didn’t want to be too far off of him,” Stewart explained. “We were up on him in the middle of the turn to see where it went from there and Brian rode the horse terrific.”

Bred in Louisiana by Tom Curtis and Wayne Simpson, Smoken Wicked, out of the winning Street Boss mare Street Smoke, improved his record to 13-5-3-1 with $551,392 in earnings. 

Hotazhell, Juwelier and Tiberius Thunder ship in for G1 Saratoga Derby Invitational

A trio of top contenders for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational – Hotazhell, Juwelier and Tiberius Thunder - arrived at the Spa on Friday and cleared quarantine to stretch their legs over the Oklahoma dirt training track on Sunday, at Saratoga Race Course.

The three colts took their first steps onto a sloppy Oklahoma track a little after 10:30 a.m. on a rainy Saratoga morning.

The Jessica Harrington-conditioned Hotazhell kicked off his career with a fourth to subsequent Group 1-winner Scorthy Champ at Leopardstown before graduating at The Curragh and being kept busy in four more group stakes, including ladder-ascending victories in the Group 3 Tyros at Leopardstown, Group 2 Beresford at The Curragh and Group 1 Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, as well as a good second to subsequent Breeders’ Cup champ Henri Matisse in the Group 2 Futurity at The Curragh. 

The Too Darn Hot bay has raced twice this year, finishing third to Europe’s top-rated sophomore Field of Gold in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas in May at The Curragh and then fifth in the star-studded Group 1 Eclipse on July 5 at Doncaster behind Delacroix, a foe he previously defeated.

Eadaoin Byrne was aboard Hotazhell for his morning visit to the Oklahoma training track with regular pilot Shane Foley slated to travel to Saratoga for the mount.

“He traveled really well,” Byrne said. “He's eating great - calm and relaxed. He can be spicy sometimes when we bring him to ride out, but that's just how he is. We're very happy with him. It was great to get him out today and let him stretch his legs.”

Hotazhell was a tenacious winner of the Futurity Trophy traveling a straight mile over soft going at Doncaster, battling furiously to the wire with Delacroix and prevailing by the narrowest of margins.

“He was out of the gates well. Shane Foley had him very relaxed and he traveled really well,” recalled Byrne. “This fellow grows another leg on that ground - he loves the soft ground. It looked like he was flat out, but he found more with a furlong to go and took off again.

“It looked like he was actually off the bridle, but he was just fine,” Byrne added. “It just takes him a while to get going, stepping him up in trip will probably help him, too.”

Hotazhell, out of the Danehill Dancer mare Azenzar, was purchased for $261,362 at the 2024 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale. His second dam, Dashing, is a half-sister to Alexander Goldrun, who won five Group 1 races in four countries.

“He's strong and a lovely mover - very well balanced. Everything you would want in a colt,” Byrne said.

The Alessandro Botti-trained Juwelier, by Wootton Bassett and out of a full-sister to French Derby winner Intello, kicked off his career with a fourth at Deauville behind subsequent multiple Group 1 performer Frankly Good Cen. Victorious in April at Fountainebleau, he was then fifth in the Listed Prix de Suresnes at Chantilly before a breakthrough victory in the Group 3 German Derby Trial at Baden-Baden. 

Umberto Rispoli will ship in from the West Coast to pilot Juwelier.

Trainer Adrian Murray’s Irish-bred Tiberius Thunder carries the colors of rising power AMO Racing and enters off a fourth-of-12 in Royal Ascot’s Group 3 Hampton Court behind Trinity College, who would lose the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris by a nose four weeks later. Earlier this year, he was third to one of Europe’s top horses, the aforementioned Delacroix, in the Group 3 Ballysax in late March, which was followed by a fourth in the Listed Blue Riband Trial at Epsom and a fifth in the Group 3 Gallinule. 

Frankie Dettori will have the call on Tiberius Thunder.

For the third consecutive year, per a partnership between the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and Moonee Valley Racing Club, the winner of the Saratoga Derby will receive an exclusive invitation into the prestigious Group 1, AUD$6 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate, set to take place on October 25.