(Reuters) – Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, in a thrilling fight to the finish line on Saturday to capture the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing’s famed Triple Crown.
The bay colt thrived in the wet and sloppy conditions at Churchill Downs to finish the 1-1/4-mile race in two minutes and 2.31 seconds, beating the heavy favorite Journalism down the final straight.
Journalism finished about a length behind while Baeza was third.
The race marked famed trainer Bob Baffert’s first trip to the derby after a three-year ban from the track. Churchill Downs had suspended him after his horse, Medina Spirit, failed a drugs test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby.
His horse, Citizen Bull, took the early lead from the pole position, hanging on through much of the race as a dense chase pack followed.
Sovereignty and Journalism made their move at the same time, navigating around the outside on the final turn, battling nose-to-nose through the final 16th of a mile before Sovereignty pulled away in the final moments.
“I saw him gearing up when he left the half-mile pole, he started to pick up his momentum, and I lost him a little bit,” trainer Bill Mott said in televised remarks. “He made up a lot of ground in a hurry.”
Mott previously trained Country House, who won the derby in 2019 when Maximum Security became the first horse in the history of the race to be disqualified after crossing the line first.
It was the first Kentucky Derby win for jockey Junior Alvarado, who deftly navigated through the pack from the unenviable 18th post position and said he never doubted the horse he called “Mr. Mud” would thrive in the mucky conditions.
“I thought I had a great chance,” said Alvarado, who was sidelined with a reported fracture in his shoulder only five weeks ago.
“I was so confident the whole way.”
Baeza, who drew in after another Baffert-trained horse, Rodriguez, scratched on Thursday, sneaked into third as jockey Hector Berrios made a gutsy last minute move.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Deepa Babington)
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