A much-anticipated third chapter in the rivalry between Kentucky Derby 1-2 Sovereignty and Journalism must wait for the fall after only Bill Mott’s latest superstar horse featured among five declarations for the $1,250,000 Grade I Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, August 23.
The summer-long meet at the Spa track in Upstate New York, extended by the fact that the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival has temporarily relocated there while Belmont Park has renovation work done, draws to a close on Labor Day, but not before more valuable races on both dirt and grass take place. A potential rematch between Godolphin runner Sovereignty and Michael McCarthy’s Journalism was top of the bill.
Connections of the latter instead prefer other targets to the Travers Stakes with the Pacific Classic at Del Mar the following Saturday, August 30, now a possibility. That route to the Breeders’ Cup Classic was successful for Flightline back in 2022. Based on both the Kentucky Derby result and the horses recording the same finishing order in the Belmont, Sovereignty has the beating of Journalism.
Delaying the next faceoff between the winners of the big three-year-olds only races until the World Championships allows anticipation to build. It leaves Sovereignty with just four horses to beat at Saratoga after following-up on Belmont success in the Jim Dandy Stakes under a penalty. He now steps back up to the 2,000m distance over which he excelled prior.
What opposition there is for Sovereignty just isn’t expected to cause him any real worries, if Morning Line odds and Kentucky Derby racebooks have it right. He’s a heavy favorite for a third Grade I win of 2025 and fourth consecutive victory, because those Triple Crown race successes set a clear and obvious standard.
Magnitude a New Opponent for Sovereignty
If there is a threat to the leading colt of his generation in the Travers Stakes of 2025, then it might be from the Steve Asmussen barn. Magnitude started the campaign on the Kentucky Derby trail, yet an injury prevented the son of Not This Time building on his Grade II Risen Star Stakes success at the New Orleans Fair Grounds in Louisiana.
After 140 days off the track, he returned with a romp in the Iowa Derby with a similarly impressive margin of victory to that prior win. Magnitude steps into Grade I company at last and, although he should strip fitter for his reappearance, still faces a formidable obstacle if he wants to get his career back on track.
Facing a Kentucky Derby winner, who has also landed the Belmont and the Jim Dandy at the Spa, in Sovereignty is a huge task. Magnitude about sums it up, apropos for what this horse is up against. The other three runners in the Travers Stakes of 2025 have even more to find, though.
Strategic Focus made the show in a Listed race at Saratoga last time, but this is Grade I and the Chad Brown barn have no illusions about it. Both Bracket Buster and McAfee are longshots, not least because the latter’s West Virginia Derby conqueror finished almost 10 lengths behind Magnitude in the Risen Star earlier in the year.
Victoria Oliver and Richard Dutrow are in their own private battle to avoid the wooden spoon here, but connections will still pick up good prize money out the purse. Bracket Buster couldn’t get within eight lengths of Journalism in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park last month, so that suggests he has no chance of landing a blow on Sovereignty.
Travers Stakes 2025 Post Positions Draw & Morning Line Odds
- Magnitude – 2-1
- Bracket Buster – 20-1
- Strategic Focus – 6-1
- Sovereignty – 2-5 fav
- McAfee – 20-1
Our Handicapper’s Verdict
Barring accidents or the favorite underperforming, this is all about Sovereignty going in again around Saratoga. He’s achieved more than the rest of the field combined and Mott has done his best to space out his races with at least a four-week break between them. Exacta bettors should have no hesitation combining him with Magnitude in a clear second.
WATCH: Sovereignty Win the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
