Godolphin’s homebred Sovereignty delivered on his 1-4 favoritism in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga, romping home to win by ten lengths over Bracket Buster (17-1).
“We are witnessing greatness,” track announcer Frank Mirahmadi said in mid-stretch as the 3-year-old son of Into Mischief found another gear. Sovereignty stopped the clock in 2:00.84 for 1 1/4 miles over the fast main track.
With the win, Sovereignty gave Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and jockey Junior Alvarado both their first Travers wins.
“This is the horse of a lifetime,” Alvarado said. “All my big wins come from him, and I can’t thank enough the Godolphin people and Bill Mott for keeping the trust in me.”
“It’s really great, what can I say,” echoed Mott. “It’s never over ’til it’s over, and watching the race unfold, Vicki Oliver’s horse, Bracket Buster, held on very well until the eighth pole. He ran a courageous race. I commend her for giving it a shot and running in here. Her horse ran great. Our horse just proved how good he was when he pulled away in the last eighth of a mile. He’s pretty special.”
It was the third Travers win for Godolphin as owner. Sovereignty also became the first horse to ever win the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy, and Travers.
Junior Alvarado celebrates after winning the G1 Travers with SovereingtyJoe Labozzetta/NYRA
As expected, Magnitude was sharp out of the gate and went straight to the lead, with Bracket Buster drafting right off his hip in second. Alvarado had Sovereignty up in third, but eased off the gas approaching the far turn to keep from being four-wide.
After early fractions of 23.47 and 47.43 seconds, Sovereignty was wedged between Strategic Focus and McAfee down the backstretch. As Magnitude ticked off six furlongs in 1:11.23, Sovereignty moved up into a clear third.
Rounding the far turn, Bracket Buster took over from Magnitude with ease, but Sovereignty was just winding up. Alvarado gave the colt his cue as he guided Sovereignty to the three-path, and he easily put away Bracket Buster in the final eighth of a mile. Magnitude was a distant third, with McAfee fourth. Strategic Focus was eased.
“He was amazing today,” Alvarado said of the winner. “He showed something maybe a little different today. We got kind of boxed in a little bit between horses. I just didn’t want to go wide in the first turn. He handles everything I try with him. He just does it so professionally with no hesitation.”
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Sovereignty launched his career on the Travers undercard in 2024, finishing fourth. He was defeated again in his second start, but traveled to Churchill Downs to break his maiden in the G3 Iroquois Stakes in November. The colt began his 3-year-old season with a win in the G2 Fountain of Youth and was then beaten in the G1 Florida Derby, but entered the Travers off three consecutive victories: he won the G1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs ahead of the local G1 Belmont Stakes presented in June and the G2 Jim Dandy last out on July 26 at Saratoga.
Asked if the Travers was Sovereignty’s best performance, Mott said: “It’s really hard to top the Derby. He came from way back and over a muddy track. This was a great race – his races have been very impressive. I think the final furlong of this race was very good – it was probably equal to the Derby, but the Derby, the way it was run, on such a sloppy track and he had to overcome so much – 20 horses – it’s a much smaller field today, but the way he looked out there today was incredible. I thought from the eighth pole to the wire, I said, ‘wow, he’s looking pretty magnificent right now.’ I thought he was traveling well early in the race. The whole race was good, it was smooth and when he digged in leaving the eighth pole, he responded and opened up.”
“I don’t know how it gets much bigger than this,” Mott continued. “Of course the Breeders’ Cup is at the end of the year, and we’ve gotta consider that.”
Sovereignty, out of the unraced Bernardini mare Crowned, is a Kentucky homebred for Godolphin, who has won this event with Alpha [2012, dead-heat with Golden Ticket] and Essential Quality [2021]. He boasts an 9-6-2-0 record with over $5.8 million in earnings.
“I would think [the Breeders’ Cup Classic is] the next logical step,” said Godolphin’s Michael Banahan. “We always felt after the Derby, the Travers was the next goal that we had. The Belmont as well, but the Travers was the main mid-summer goal. Achieving what he has done today, the logical next spot to turn up is Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, as long as the horse is doing well and training as well as Bill wants him to be, I think that’s where he’ll end up next.”
2025 Travers Day at SaratogaBrady Reynolds/NYRA
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.