DEL MAR, Calif. — Sovereignty, the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, has been scratched and will not run Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Classic after catching a fever this week, taking the favorite out of the $7 million world championship race for thoroughbreds.
Trainer Bill Mott announced the decision Wednesday to scratch the country’s top 3-year-old horse. Mott had previously said Sovereignty not racing was a possibility.
Sovereignty opened as a heavy 6-5 morning line favorite in the field of 10, which also includes Preakness Stakes winner Journalism, the runner-up to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Lexington’s Churchill Downs and the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at New York’s Saratoga Race Course. The Breeders’ Cup Classic was expected to determine the horse of the year.
Mott and ownership have made it clear over the past several months that they would play it safe with Sovereignty, including the call to skip the Preakness Stakes on May 17 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore after he won the Kentucky Derby and looked like a legitimate Triple Crown candidate.