Sovereignty returns victorious in G2 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun

Despite losing position heading into the final turn, Godolphin’s dual Classic-winning homebred Sovereignty’s class proved superior over four challengers in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy presented by Mohegan Sun, a nine-furlong route for sophomores, at Saratoga Race Course. 

The Jim Dandy serves as the traditional local prep for the 10-furlong Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers on August 23 at the Spa, which Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said is the next target for Sovereignty in his quest for Championship honors in the sophomore division. 

"I'd say it was good, it was a winning trip, a winning ride, a winning run,” said Mott, who is in search of his first Travers win. “We hope he comes back good and hopefully he trains as well for the Travers as he did for this.

"We are trying to get ready for the Travers and that is the main objective for everybody, I think. The Mid-Summer Derby, I think the Travers is important to me. It is a race I've never won, and I'd really like to win it before I check out,” Mott added, with a laugh. “We'll give it our best go." 

Sovereignty, who entered from an impressive win in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 7, proved his mettle against a massive field of 18 rivals when winning this year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs, but faced the shortest field of his career in the Jim Dandy, leaving a question of what kind of trip regular pilot Junior Alvarado would engineer. 

Alvarado, who carved out a close-up trip in the Belmont, was content to do the same in the Jim Dandy at one furlong shorter, and allowed the son of Into Mischief to sweep up into a prominent early position after the colt proved his adaptability with his three-length Belmont coup. 

"It is interesting,” Mott said of the prominent tactics. “Junior said by the time he got to the first turn he was already starting to relax with him. I guess in some races it is good to be able to have a little early position, rather than come from as far back as he did in the Derby and some of his other races.”

The New York-bred Mo Plex was the expected speed, and, despite bobbling at the start, took his position at the helm under Manny Franco to mark the opening quarter-mile in 24.54 seconds over the fast footing with Sovereignty sticking close to his outside and Baeza tracking in third along the inside. 

Mo Plex put daylight between him and Sovereignty heading into the backstretch before Hector Berrios made a move aboard Baeza to creep up the rail and keep Mo Plex within his grasp through the half-mile in 48.49. 

“He came out of there aggressively a little bit more today, even more than the last time,” Alvarado explained. “He pulled himself right away, which is very lovely - he got his forward position and got out of trouble right away and that’s what I did. On the backside, I could feel Hector Berrios - he started sending his horse a little bit; he wanted to have some position and he wanted to get out [from behind] of Mo Plex. My horse wasn’t that eager. I wasn’t going to get into a fight early just to try and keep him in. I wasn’t worried about any horse; I just needed to ride my horse.”

Approaching the turn, there were a few tense moments as it appeared Sovereignty was retreating when losing position to the advancing Baeza and the deep-closers Sandman and Hill Road, leaving Sovereignty in last for a few strides. 

Alvarado said he never had a doubt that Sovereignty would come with his expected run. 

“It was everybody else moving and at that time I was just like, ‘alright let me now kind of start picking it up,’” Alvarado said. “I had 100 percent confidence. I knew what I had underneath me, so I’m not going to say I was playing with them, but I was just doing what I needed to do to win the race.”

Mott agreed with his trusted rider, and said Sovereignty was in capable hands. 

"I think he [Alvarado] was just letting him find his stride and he said he was in a nice rhythm,” Mott said. “He knows that he has a pretty good kick from the five-sixteenths to the wire, so I think Junior was just confident, and he was outside, I think he was letting everybody come up inside of him. They were saving a little ground and actually probably having a little better trip than he was, but he was sitting on the best horse today." 

Alvarado was calm and collected in the turn, and shook the reins to bring Sovereignty forward while Mo Plex attempted to kick clear with Baeza in hot pursuit through six furlongs in 1:12.42. The top three were neck-and-neck at the head of the lane before Mo Plex threw in the towel on the inside and Sovereignty stuck his neck in front of Baeza in the center of the course. 

Baeza, third to Sovereignty in both the Derby and Belmont, was a tough customer to his inside and fought back with everything he had, but Sovereignty’s class carried him past his rival inside the final eighth to maintain a one-length lead as he completed the course wrapped up in a final time of 1:49.52. 

"It looked like he [Alvarado] asked him to go to them [in the far turn] and he did exactly what he asked him to do,” Mott commented. “When he came out of the turn, it looked like things were going our way. I thought he put a little more distance on Baeza approaching the eighth pole. It looked like Baeza came back at him a little bit. I think 70 yards before the wire, we were pulling away again.”

Baeza finished 9 1/4 lengths ahead of Hill Road with Mo Plex and Sandman completing the order of finish. 

Alvarado said the race was a perfect Travers prep for Sovereignty as he finished with plenty left in the tank.

“I got to about 75 percent, 80 percent out of him. We thought this was a prep. We don’t need to get everything out of him today,” Alvarado said. “That was the idea and sometimes those are the races you have to run and I thought we were kind of taking it easy coming into the stretch and just hoping for his best and that’s what he did. Now, for the next couple races coming up, we are going to do what we did in the Derby and the Belmont.”

Sovereignty provided Alvarado with his first American Classic wins, making the talented colt one to remember for the Venezuelan native. 

“It’s been amazing. This is what dreams are made of,” Alvarado said. “You wake up every morning and you come to work hoping one day one of those horses comes across you and you get to ride it and for me this is a dream horse.”

Berrios, aboard the John Shirreffs-trained Baeza, said the son of McKinzie was valiant in defeat despite showing some greenness in the lane. 

“I had a good try. I rode my horse how he was comfortable,” Berrios said. “I stayed with Sovereignty and in the turn, I tried to put the horse – change the lane – and my horse wanted to feel the other horse and he came back and at the finish he tried well.”

Sovereignty banked $275,000 in victory while improving his record to 8-5-2-0, which includes additional graded scores in Churchill's Grade 3 Street Sense as a maiden last year and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in March at Gulfstream Park. He returned $3 on a $2 win ticket as the 1-2 mutuel favorite in the Jim Dandy. 

Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls in Race 7. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit nyra.com/tv.

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