LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – MAY 03: Sovereignty #18, ridden by jockey Junior Alvarado crosses the end line to win the 151st operating of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Might 03, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Picture by Michael Reaves/Getty Photographs)
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Sovereignty received the 151st operating of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, in an exciting battle to the end line on Saturday to seize the primary leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing’s famed Triple Crown.
The bay colt thrived within the moist and sloppy circumstances at Churchill Downs to complete the 1-1/4-mile race in two minutes and a pair of.31 seconds, beating the heavy favourite Journalism down the ultimate straight.
Journalism completed a couple of size behind whereas Baeza was third.
The race marked famed coach Bob Baffert’s first journey to the derby after a three-year ban from the observe. Churchill Downs had suspended him after his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a medication check after successful the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
His horse, Citizen Bull, took the early lead from the pole place, hanging on by a lot of the race as a dense chase pack adopted.
Sovereignty and Journalism made their transfer on the identical time, navigating across the exterior on the ultimate flip, battling nose-to-nose by the ultimate sixteenth of a mile earlier than Sovereignty pulled away within the remaining moments.
“I noticed him gearing up when he left the half-mile pole, he began to select up his momentum, and I misplaced him slightly bit,” coach Invoice Mott stated in televised remarks. “He made up a whole lot of floor in a rush.”
Mott beforehand skilled Nation Home, who received the derby in 2019 when Most Safety grew to become the primary horse within the historical past of the race to be disqualified after crossing the road first.
It was the primary Kentucky Derby win for jockey Junior Alvarado, who deftly navigated by the pack from the unenviable 18th submit place and stated he by no means doubted the horse he known as “Mr. Mud” would thrive within the mucky circumstances.
“I believed I had an amazing probability,” stated Alvarado, who was sidelined with a reported fracture in his shoulder solely 5 weeks in the past.
“I used to be so assured the entire approach.”
Baeza, who drew in after one other Baffert-trained horse, Rodriguez, scratched on Thursday, sneaked into third as jockey Hector Berrios made a gutsy final minute transfer.