Kentucky

Sovereignty's Kentucky Derby win helps heal the past and soothe the present

Published

1 week ago

May 4, 2025

Sovereignty's Kentucky Derby win helps heal the past and soothe the present

LOUISVILLE – Here then is what thoroughbred horse racing does best, what it does in such a way that it is possible – if only for a few minutes, or an hour or a day, or the two weeks that separate one Kentucky Derby from one Preakness – to look away briefly from the many problems that ever more frequently imperil the sport’s relevance, or on the darkest of days, its existence. Here then is what it does: It shrinks time and spits it out beneath two spires.

It takes a 71-year-old trainer named Bill Mott, a man known for his dignity and patience in a frantic and desperate sport, and transports him across six years from one quagmire of ankle-deep Churchill Downs mud to another, from a 22-minute wait to have his horse controversially declared the winner of the 145th Kentucky Derby to no wait at all to have another (much better) horse declared the winner of the 151st. It takes him from a pickup truck in Fort Pierce, South Dakota, 58 years ago, where he remembered listening to the AM radio call of Proud Clarion’s win in the 1967 Derby, to the winner’s circle of the most important horse race in the United States. It takes a 38-year-old Venezuelan jockey, Junior Alvarado, who as a teenager knew only one American race, from a hospital bed in Florida, injured when his mount suffered a fatal heart attack, 41 days later to a stretch-running victory in that very same race.

All of this because, at seven minutes past 7 on Saturday night, a regal bay 3-year-old colt named Sovereignty, at 7-1 the bettors’ third choice in the field of 19 horses, ran determinedly past favored Journalism in the gloaming of a cold, misty spring evening, grinding forward beneath giant light towers that illuminated a persistent mist and dwarfed those ancient and beloved twin Churchill spires, to win the Derby.

Minutes after it ended, Mott, who turned those 71 years old last July, stood in the Churchill mud, just as he’d done in 2019, when his Country House, a 65-1 longshot, finished second behind Maximum Security, only to be elevated to first after that long wait when the latter was disqualified. The delay that day was agonizing, the outcome booed by the crowd, because Maximum Security had appeared to be the best horse by a wide margin, and thus many had placed bets on him. This time Mott wore the same windbreaker and similar black boots, and a much more celebratory air. “We’ll take them any way we can get them,” Mott said, diplomatically, as is his nature.

But also: “This is better.”

Mott: ‘Can’t say enough’ about winner Sovereignty

Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bill Mott reacts to Sovereignty’s win in the Run for the Roses.

Mott has trained excellent and successful horses around the world, from two-time (1995-’96) Horse of the Year Cigar, to the popular Cody’s Wish, named for a young man, Cody Dorman, with a debilitating chromosomal illness, and winner of emotional Breeders’ Cup sprints in 2022 and ’23. Yet Mott most prides himself on showing up and punching a virtual clock, every morning for more than four decades, striving from South Dakota to Kentucky and working from the same barn at Churchill Downs since 1980. “To be sitting here,” he said from the Derby winner’s press conference rostrum, “thinking back to that 1967 Derby, it’s like going to outer space.”

He clomped out the mud after talking with NBC’s Kenny Rice and ascended three steps to the Churchill infield, and then walked toward the portico where the trophy would be presented. His son, Riley, a trainer himself, intercepted Mott and snatched him up in an emotional hug. “Words can’t describe what it feels like,” said Riley, one of Mott’s three grown children. “Seeing what he does every day of his life. He’s a great human being, with a great work ethic. I’m so proud of him.”

(More time shrinkage from a personal perspective: I first met Riley when he was helping his father and also attending prep school at the Salisbury School in Connecticut, not far from my home. We talked about it Saturday on the Churchill infield. He was wearing a Salisbury tie and pointed to it proudly. I asked his age: “I’m 33,” he said, roughly double the age of the kid I had first met. Time flying past, yet lending perspective at the same time.)

Journalism came into the race a clear and respected favorite, impressive winner of two important California prep races, including the April 5 Santa Anita Derby. His story was the most-told of any horse’s; trainer Michael McCarthy’s home had been damaged to the point of uninhabitability by the Eaton Fire, one of the tragic wildfires that struck Southern California in early January. Journalism left the starting gate as the 3-1 favorite, but he had never run on a wet track and just once in a field of more than five horses. “I’m more worried about a bad trip than a bad track,” McCarthy told me two days before the race.

Arkansas Derby winner Sandman was the second choice at post, off at 6-1. Next came Sovereignty. Odds can often be comically irrelevant in the Derby; not so on Saturday.

The Derby is always a race that mixes jockeys’ guile and, because of its cumbersome size, a massive dose of luck. None of its horses have run in such a large field or at the distance of 1 1/4 miles. Both Sovereignty and Journalism, who would contest the race nearly to the wire, each got a little trouble and excellent rides, from different regions of the giant starting gate. Journalism broke from the No. 8 position and was squeezed early, but jockey Umberto Rispoli got him near the rail into the first turn and around into the backstretch. Horses slowed in front, but Rispoli worked his way into open mud and rolled into the final turn ominously. “I got a beautiful trip,” said Rispoli. “I wanted to turn for home with just a couple of horses in front of me and that’s what happened.”

Sovereignty’s jockey, Alvarado, who is Mott’s trusted house jockey, is admired by the trainer for his willingness to work in developing a horse, resisting the urge to push a horse past his readiness in an attempt to win. He started far out from the rail, in the No. 18 post, not necessarily disadvantageous, because Sovereignty is a kicker who does his best running late in the race. But he stumbled out of the gate; the official chart said he, “… clipped a rival’s heels and bobbled slightly.”

“I clipped heels a little bit right there,” said Alvarado. “I’m thinking, oh boy, I hope he didn’t lose a shoe on this track.” He did not. From there, Alvarado skillfully slid him to the inside rail before the first turn. Mott noted: “You don’t win Grade I’s (the biggest races) going four or five (paths) wide around both turns.” For Alvarado his mount alone was a gift. On March 23 at Gulfstream Park, Alvarado was aboard Term in the 10th race, when Term suffered a fatal cardiac event and fell, heaving Alvarado. His injury was a hairline fracture of his right shoulder. He missed three weeks of riding and was not on Sovereignty (replaced by Manny Franco) for his second-place finish in the March 29 Florida Derby. “I was completely heartbroken,” said Alvarado. “I thought that was it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get another horse like this.”

Overhead view of Sovereignty’s Kentucky Derby win

Take a bird’s-eye view of Sovereignty’s winning moves entering the final stretch in the 151st Kentucky Derby.

In the Derby, as Sovereignty and Journalism navigated the racetrack, the pace was too fast up front, under 23 seconds for the first straight quarter and 46.23 around the turn into the backstretch. None of the early leaders would hold up. Past the quarter pole and into stretch, Journalism took the lead.

But: “I saw the blue silks coming,” said McCarthy. That would be Sovereignty, in the colors of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin Racing.

Pause: In racing, there are almost always complexities, even in the best of stories. Sheikh Mohammad, the 75-year-old ruler of Dubai, is respected and praised in the horse racing world, but outside racing, his reputation is materially different. The most disturbing example: In 2020, a British court “established as fact” that Sheikh Mohammad had abducted two of his daughters and threatened his wife. Mott and British Godolphin representative Michael Banahan effusively praised Godolphin for their support of racing, and that is likely sincere and valid. But outside the racetrack, the story is more complex.

Back to the race:

Alvarado said, “When we turned for home, I put him in the clear on the outside. I knew what I [had]. I knew what he was capable of, and he didn’t disappoint me.” They ran nearly together for 17 jumps, but any experienced race-watcher could see that Sovereignty had more steam. Sovereignty put a head in front inside the eighth pole and eased away to win by 1 1/2 lengths, Mott’s second Derby, Alvarado’s first. Godolphin’s first, in their 14th try.

“The winner ran a better race,” said Journalism’s McCarthy, a racetrack concession, never needed, but often a fitting coda.

At the end of it all, the rain had ceased falling over the Downs, leaving only a cold, misty veil, It was eerily similar to 2019, but with a mirror image of emotions. Back then I wrote for Sports Illustrated that nightfall was like “… a curtain falling on a theater of the surreal.” This was a curtain call, a bow to the present and the past. An interruption in racing survival drama for only joy.

Source link

Kentucky

Kentucky football has one commitment for its 2026 class. What’s behind the struggles?

Published

9 hours ago

May 14, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky football has one commitment for its 2026 class. What’s behind the struggles?

Kentucky football’s 2026 recruiting class has only one commitment as of May 1, among the fewest of any Power Four program.
The Wildcats’ slow start in 2026 recruiting contrasts sharply with previous years under coach Mark Stoops.
The team’s disappointing 4-8 record in the 2024 season likely is a contributing factor to the recruiting struggles in the 2026 cycle.

LEXINGTON — Following Kentucky football’s final practice of the spring April 12, longtime coach Mark Stoops acknowledged the harmony required in modern-day roster construction, a reality in which the transfer portal now rivals — and at some schools surpasses — high school recruiting in importance.

“As you move forward, I think you look at the strategy of it, and how many you’re actually going to take, you know what I mean?” said Stoops, referring to his program’s high school recruiting. “And what the balance is going to be between the portal and between high school guys. The high school recruiting for us is very good. We love the freshmen that we have on this team, and the guys that are going into their second year, we really feel good about.”

No two rosters are ever the same, of course.

“It’s what your needs are,” Stoops said. “Obviously, after last season, we needed to get some guys with some experience, with some playing time.”

To Stoops’ point, the Wildcats loaded up in the transfer portal during the winter window.

They added 20 transfers — just one fewer than their 2025 high school signing class, which featured 21 players.

The emphasis on the transfer portal as opposed to the high school ranks has lasted into this year, with teams having turned their attention to the 2026 recruiting cycle.

It’s been a struggle to this point for UK.

As of May 1, it has just one player committed: Jarvis Strickland, a four-star in-state offensive lineman from Paducah, got the ball rolling March 30.

Not only is that meager figure stunning juxtaposed against Stoops’ 12-year tenure. But the date is noteworthy as well.

The Courier Journal dove into the numbers to provide context for Kentucky’s issues it’s had in the 2026 class so far — and what it might mean for the future.

Strickland’s pledge was significant on two fronts.

One, removing the 2013 class, when Stoops had been on the job barely two months (he was hired in November 2012), March 30 marks the latest it had ever taken for Kentucky to earn its first commitment in a Stoops-led cycle.

Second, it puts UK on an incredibly short list of Power Four programs with one (or fewer) commitments in the 2026 high school class. Florida is the only other SEC school with just one commit. The other Power Four schools in the Lone-or-None Club (as of May 8): Colorado (one) and Wake Forest (zero).

It’s not as if Kentucky has entirely ignored next year’s group of high school graduates.

It’s just that the Wildcats have whiffed on multiple 2026 targets already.

UK was the first SEC school to offer Ohio offensive lineman Adam Guthrie and had made him a priority. In a decision that caught recruiting experts by surprise, Guthrie committed to Clemson on March 7. UK hosted linebacker Terry Wiggins for an official visit in April; in-state power Penn State didn’t even need an OV to earn Wiggins’ commitment May 2. Perhaps the most frustrating misses, given the school the recruits cast their lot with: St. Xavier linebacker Karsten Busch committed to Louisville on March 7; one day later, offensive lineman Joel Ervin did the same.

Though Ervin later decommitted and flipped to Miami, the fact the Cardinals beat the Wildcats on back-to-back days for prospects both were actively recruiting highlights the gap between the Bluegrass State’s two most prominent football programs in 2026.

U of L has 13 commitments, a dozen clear of UK.

Just how far off are the Wildcats’ 2026 efforts compared with previous years?

Using May 1 as the cut-off date for the following year’s class — for example, May 1, 2024, for the 2025 cycle — UK’s one pledge to this point is its fewest ever under Stoops. The previous low-water mark was two years ago, when it had two commitments for 2024 when the calendar flipped to May 2023.

Here’s the full breakdown:

2025: Six (As of May 1, 2024)
2024: Two (As of May 1, 2023)
2023: Five (As of May 1, 2022)
2022: Nine (As of May 1, 2021)
2021: Five (As of May 1, 2020)
2020: Three (As of May 1, 2019)
2019: Three (As of May 1, 2018)
2018: Seven (As of May 1, 2017)
2017: 12 (As of May 1, 2016)
2016: 16 (As of May 1, 2015)
2015: Six (As of May 1, 2014)
2014: Five (As of May 1, 2013)

It goes without saying Strickland won’t be Kentucky’s only 2026 commitment. Despite their misses elsewhere, there still are countless prospects the Wildcats could land.

The good news: The summer commitment window, when many college programs pick up pledges rapidly, is on the horizon. As Kentucky Sports Radio’s Adam Luckett noted after Wiggins’ commitment to Penn State, the Wildcats have 17 official visits slated in June alone. Perhaps one of those recruits will commit during — or shortly after — their visit.

One factor that can’t be downplayed about UK’s 2026 class, however, is the specter of the 2024 season. At 4-8 overall (1-7 SEC), it was Stoops’ worst record since his first season, when the Wildcats lost 10 of their 12 contests, including all eight in conference play. Few, if any, high school prospects are eager to jump on board after a display as desultory as Kentucky’s 2024 season was.

Putting last year’s record aside, here’s another hard truth: While high school signees traditionally have been the backbone of every program in college football, the transfer portal isn’t going anywhere.

“The normal team these days (is) going to turn over 35, 40, over 40 (players each offseason),” Stoops said after a 41-14 loss to Louisville in the 2024 season finale. “That is different. … I didn’t think or ever say that (the transfer portal) was perfect or the end-all, be-all. I said that last time: It’s not ‘end-all, be-all.’ You have to have a strong nucleus of some good players and then supplement it.”

Yet hope forever springs eternal in college football: Kentucky’s 2027 class already has matched the 2026 edition in terms of commitments.

Quarterback DJ Hunter was first in the fold for the Wildcats’ 2027 recruiting class, committing April 7.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

Source link

Kentucky

Kentucky QB Zach Calzada continues to be disrespected by the national media

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky QB Zach Calzada continues to be disrespected by the national media

There are not very high expectations for this Kentucky football team, and the fan base continues to grow more and more impatient with Mark Stoops.

After Will Levis left for the NFL, the coaching staff has gone 0-2 in the transfer portal at quarterback despite high expectations for both Devin Leary and Brock Vandagriff.

The Wildcats have once again brought in a transfer portal quarterback who will likely be the starter, and that is Zach Calzada. Last season, Calzada played at Incarnate Word, but he has made two stops in the SEC at Texas A&M and Auburn.

Brad Crawford of 247Sports ranked all of the projected starting quarterbacks in the SEC, and he had Calzada ranked dead last.

Here is what Crawford had to say about Calzada and why he had him ranked 16th: “Expectations are low involving Calzada, the latest transfer quarterback to assume starting honors for the Wildcats. The Brock Vandagriff experiment worked out poorly, and Mark Stoops prays this former Texas A&M quarterback can execute the game plan with more precision.”

Calzada put up elite numbers at Incarnate Word and beat a Nick Saban-led Alabama team while at Texas A&M, so he has proven to be a capable quarterback.

The veteran signal caller has made it clear that he is playing with a chip on his shoulder, and the disrespect from these types of ranking lists will fuel him this offseason. Calzada is a good quarterback who has been dying for another opportunity in the SEC after a bad stop at Auburn, and he will get that this season in Lexington.

Source link

Kentucky

Kentucky Derby-winning Jockey Junior Alvarado to appeal fine, suspension from HISA per report

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky Derby-winning Jockey Junior Alvarado to appeal fine, suspension from HISA per report

Jockey Junior Alvarado is appealing a fine and suspension for excessive crop use in the Kentucky Derby.

Jockey Junior Alvarado is appealing his fine and suspension given to him by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. Alvarado’s agent, Mike Sellitto, said the ruling is under appeal, according to Byron King of Bloodhorse.com reporting.

Alvarado was fined $62,000 and suspended two days as the result of excessive crop use during his winning ride on Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

HISA ruled Alvarado used his crop eight times on Sovereignty, when the rule is that jockeys may use their crops no more than six times.

The penalty is 10% of the jockey’s earnings from the race — which would be $31,000 for the Kentucky Derby — and a one-day suspension. Since this was Alvarado’s second violation in the last 180 days, his penalty was doubled.

On Courier Journal columnist C.L. Brown’s podcast, Alvarado said, “I forgot it was a rule. … I was seeing my dream coming true right in front of me. The whip rule was the last thing I had in my mind. I have to pay the consequences, I guess.”

Sovereignty will not run in the Preakness on May 17 and is expected to return for the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont on June 7 at Saratoga.

Reach sports reporter Prince James Story at pstory@gannett.com and follow him on X at @PrinceJStory.

Source link