Sovereignty to Skip 2025 Preakness After Winning Kentucky Derby, Ends Triple Crown Bid

For the seventh consecutive year, there will be no horse racing Triple Crown winner in 2025.

1/ST Executive Vice President Mike Rogers said Tuesday that he was informed by trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not run in the upcoming Preakness Stakes.

Last weekend, Sovereignty beat out Journalism to win the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

Racing on a muddy track due to a rain-soaked Saturday, Sovereignty finished the race in just over two minutes and two seconds, ahead of Journalism and Baeza.

The victory marked the second of Mott's illustrious career in the Kentucky Derby, while jockey Junior Alvarado won it for the first time.

Mott is a Preakness victory away from taking the career Triple Crown, but the 71-year-old trainer won't have a chance to win it with Sovereignty, opting instead to hold the colt out until the Belmont Stakes.

The 2025 Preakness is set for May 17 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, and there won't be many familiar faces from the Kentucky Derby involved.

Per Jason Frakes of the Louisville Courier Journal, Journalism and American Promise were the only horses that ran in the Kentucky Derby that were under consideration for the Preakness.

Mott's decision to hold Sovereignty out of the Preakness didn't come as a huge surprise given his comments Sunday.

"Over the years, people have realized that spacing these horses out a little bit gives you the opportunity to make them last a little longer," he said. "We're looking at a career, and you want the career to last more than five weeks."

Since Sir Barton first accomplished the feat in 1919, only 13 horses have won the Triple Crown. It has been especially rare since Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978, as only American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018) have pulled it off after that.

The field for the 2025 Preakness will take shape over the next week, as the draw for the race is scheduled for May 12.