This year’s Kentucky Derby winner won’t race at the Breeders’ Cup
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty scratches out of Breeders’ Cup Classic due to fever.
- Sovereignty has won six graded stakes races during his career, including the Derby.
- Nine horses are now set to run in the Classic on Saturday at Del Mar.
This year’s Kentucky Derby winner won’t be running in the Breeders’ Cup this weekend.
Sovereignty — the Bill Mott trainee who won both the Derby and the Belmont Stakes earlier this year — will be scratched from Saturday’s Grade 1, $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic due to a spike in fever, it was announced Wednesday. Sovereignty had been installed as the 6-5 favorite on the morning line for the race.
The news was first reported by the Daily Racing Form.
After travelling to the Breeders’ Cup — which is taking place Friday and Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Southern California — Sovereignty spiked a fever. According to the Daily Racing Form, Sovereignty’s fever reached 103 degrees Tuesday morning. Also Tuesday, Mott, Sovereignty’s trainer, told reporters the horse would be scratched from the Classic if Sovereignty wasn’t at 100% for the race.
That proved to be the case, and Sovereignty will no longer run in the Classic, which is the featured race of Breeders’ Cup weekend. The Classic will be contested over 1 1/4 miles on Del Mar’s main track.
“(Sovereignty) seems to be doing well this morning. His temp’s down to just one tick above normal and he looks bright and looks pretty good,” Mott said Wednesday morning on FanDuel Racing. “But he’s definitely out of the Breeders’ Cup. He’ll be scratched.”
Sovereignty has been a winner in six of his nine career races, with two second-place efforts. He’s a six-time graded stakes winner and is currently on a four-race winning streak with triumphs coming consecutively in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, Jim Dandy Stakes and Travers Stakes. Those wins in the Belmont, Jim Dandy and Travers all came at Saratoga Race Course.
Sovereignty, who was controversially kept out of this year’s Preakness Stakes by Mott and his connections, was aiming to become the first horse to win the Derby, Belmont, Travers and Breeders’ Cup Classic all in the same season.
Given this run of form, and despite his scratch from the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Sovereignty — a Godolphin homebred — is expected to be named the 2025 Horse of the Year.
The Breeders’ Cup Classic now has a field of nine horses. The new favorite for the race is Fierceness, who was 4-1 on the morning line. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Fierceness has also won six graded stakes, including the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Fierceness ran second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar to Sierra Leone.
The Classic’s stacked field also includes Journalism, this year’s Preakness Stakes winner, and Baeza, who finished third in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Also in the field are Sierra Leone, last year’s Classic winner, and Japanese runner Forever Young. Completing the Classic field are Nevada Beach, Contrary Thinking, Mindframe and Antiquarian.
“It’s just really bad timing for us,” Mott added. “We would have loved to run. We’d loved to showcase our horse. I know there was a lot of people that were really looking forward to seeing him run, as well as our entire team. I mean, we were very anxious and excited about the opportunity to run in probably what’s shaped up to be probably one of the best Breeders’ Cup Classics in some time, or arguably that way. But we won’t have that opportunity this year.”
Post time for the Breeders’ Cup Classic is 6:25 p.m. EST Saturday.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 11:13 AM.
