Sovereignty wins 2025 Kentucky Derby as trainer Bill Mott sees his first horse cross first in iconic race

Trainer Bill Mott has won the Kentucky Derby without his horse crossing the finish line first. In 2019, the Mott-trained Country House was elevated to first after Maximum Security was disqualified for interference. Up until Saturday evening, that remained the only Kentucky Derby win for the Hall of Fame trainer. This year, the 71-year-old Mott was able to see his horse finally cross the Derby finish line first when his late-running Sovereignty leaves the starting gate.

As expected, Sovereignty stayed towards the back out of the gate and let the frontrunners set the early pace on the sloppy track on a rainy Saturday at Churchill Downs, but an off track didn’t stop him from his customary late charge to the front. Junior Alvarado picked the right time to have Sovereignty make his move coming around the final turn and he battled with the favorite, Journalism, down the front stretch before ultimately racing his way to the lead to win the 2025 Kentucky Derby. 

18 Sovereignty (5-1 on morning line, now 7-1)

• Trainer Bill Mott
• Jockey Junior Alvarado
• Last race Second in the Florida Derby by 1¼ lengths
• Career record 5 starts: 2 wins, 2 seconds
• Career earnings $572,800
• Best career Beyer Speed Figure 95 (2025 Fountain of Youth Stakes)
• Sire Into Mischief

Below, we’ll dig further into Sovereignty as part of our series profiling all the horses competing in the 151st Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3. We’ll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered Saturday and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.

Kentucky Derby profiles 1 Citizen Bull | 2 Neoequos | 3 Final Gambit | 5 American Promise | 6 Admire Daytona | 7 Luxor Cafe | 8 Journalism | 9 Burnham Square | 11 Flying Mohawk | 12 East Avenue | 13 Publisher | 14 Tiztastic | 15 Render Judgment | 16 Coal Battle | 17 Sandman | 18 Sovereignty | 19 Chunk of Gold | 20 Owen Almighty | 21 Baeza

Kentucky Derby picks Michelle Yu | Gene Menez | Jody Demling | Jeff Hochman 

Now that you know who’s in the field, you’ll want to know how to bet the Kentucky Derby on the top horse racing betting apps. 

2025 Kentucky Derby start time, odds, preview: Journalism favored, plus horse profiles, bet strategies

Gene Menez

What to know about Sovereignty

The best 2-year-old race last year was not the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but rather the 10th race at Churchill Downs on Oct. 27. In that race, the Street Sense Stakes, a late-running maiden named Sovereignty rallied from last past both Tiztastic and Sandman to win by five emphatic lengths. He is one of just three horses in the Kentucky Derby field to have a win at Churchill Downs. Though all three of those horses would eventually make the Kentucky Derby, Sovereignty exited the Street Sense as the strongest Derby contender of the three in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager odds at FanDuel Racing and TwinSpires.

But his next performance was the one that stamped Sovereignty as a major threat to don the blanket of roses. Despite reportedly not being close to fit after a four-plus month layoff, Sovereignty rallied from last to run down the talented River Thames by a neck in the Fountain of Youth Stakes.

Though he finished second in his next start, the Florida Derby, it was the perfect prep for Kentucky. Mott knew the target was the first Saturday in May and not the last Saturday in March.

Since that race, Sovereignty has trained beautifully at Churchill Downs according to trackside observers and looks poised to put in a big effort in the Derby. He’ll need one because his top career Beyer Speed Figure of 95 is just average in this field. 

Sovereignty’s come-from-behind running style figures to be a perfect fit for this year’s Derby, given the plethora of speed horses in the field. But as with all of the closers in the race—and there are many—he will be dependent on a fair pace up front and a clean trip. And even if he gets those two, he will likely lose massive ground on the second turn while passing tiring horses.

Sovereignty is projected to be the last of the 20 horses early which means he will likely have to pass the entire field to get to the winner’s circle, but it’s something he’s done before. 

Post draw analysis

Sovereignty is likely to be the last of the Derby horses when they pass under the wire for the first time, so post position is not likely to affect his chances. From this No. 18 post position, he will try to save as much ground as he can around the first turn and then come running late. I wouldn’t be surprised to see jockey Junior Alvarado follow Sandman, who drew just to his inside, and try to pass that rival in the stretch, just like he did in the Street Sense Stakes.