Bill Mott triumphs in the 2025 Kentucky Derby with Sovereignty at Churchill Downs.
Let's break it down, y'all:
In the heart of Kentucky, Sovereignty triumphed in the 151st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on a soggy Saturday night. The 7-1 longshot, trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, bested a formidable crowd of 19 horses amid the rain-drenched Twin Spires.
With Mott, a 71-year-old South Dakotan, guiding the charge, Sovereignty emerged from the 16th starting position to become the fifth Derby winner ever to hail from that position. The last to achieve this feat was Animal Kingdom in 2011.
The Churchill Downs main track was sloppy after days of heavy downpours. Previously, the Kentucky Oaks, won by Good Cheer, had also taken place on the same kind of track. Sovereignty, a Godolphin homebred, is now 3-2-0 in six career starts.
The 2025 Derby marked the return of sloppy track racing since 2019's Country House win and the post-race disqualification of Maximum Security. Surprisingly, only ten Derbies have taken place on sloppy tracks, with three happening in the last eight editions. Besides Sovereignty, other sloppy track winners include Flying Ebony (1925), Citation (1948), Go for Gin (1994), Smarty Jones (2004), Mine That Bird (2009), Super Saver (2010), Orb (2013), Justify (2018), and Country House (2019).
Sloppy tracks aren't the only challenging conditions these thoroughbreds have faced. Seven Kentucky Derby outcomes have unfolded on muddy tracks. Winners on these trickier terrains include Riley (1890), Worth (1912), Exterminator (1918), Clyde Van Dusen (1929), Hoop Jr. (1945), Tim Tam (1958), and Sunday Silence (1989).
If you're curious about Mystik Dan, the 2024 Derby winner, he's still competing but has yet to claim another victory since his 2024 Derby triumph. He recently entered the Lake Ouachita Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Good Cheer, a 3-year-old filly, dazzled spectators by claiming victory in the 151st Kentucky Oaks, held on Friday. Trained by Louisville native Brad Cox and ridden by Luis Saez, Good Cheer left her opponents in the dust, winning by 2 1/4 lengths. Now 7 for 7 in her racing career, Good Cheer delivered Cox his third Kentucky Oaks win.
- In 2025, the Kentucky Derby will activate a sloppy track racing challenge, marking its return since Country House's win in 2019.
- Surprisingly, only ten Kentucky Derbies have taken place on sloppy tracks, with seven of them occurring in the last 36 editions, such as the 2025 Derby.
- The Dakotan trainer, Bill Mott, guided Sovereignty to success in the 151st Kentucky Derby, becoming the fifth horse to win from the 16th starting position.
- Starting in 2025, horse-racing fans are eager to witness if Sovereignty, a Godolphin homebred, can continue its winning streak in sports racing, following its triumph at the 2025 Kentucky Derby.
