Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty will be scratched from the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Saturday after developing a fever, trainer Bill Mott said Wednesday. Mott had indicated on Tuesday that the early 6-5 favorite’s status was in doubt after a fever developed on Monday night, and after the horse’s temperature rose again on Wednesday the decision was made.
“If it didn’t go away, we were going to have a problem,” Mott said outside his office at Del Mar near San Diego. “And it didn’t go away,” Mott said, adding that after medication brought the fever down it “jumped back up.”
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“We re-treated him and, at that point, it’s not even a conversation. (Sovereignty) made the decision — that incident made the decision. That is what we said from the beginning: if he re-spiked, he would be out.” Mott told FanDuel TV that Sovereignty largely seemed his normal self, although he is now being treated with antibiotics. “He still has not missed an oat,” Mott said. “He’s in his haybag. He eats all the hay and alfalfa that’s on the ground, and he goes to his haybag. He’s got his nose in there and he seems to have an attitude — I don’t know if he knows he’s sick.”
Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby in May to give Godolphin stables a long-awaited first victory in the first jewel of US flat racing’s Triple Crown. He sat out the Preakness then returned to win the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win two legs of the Triple Crown since Justify became the 13th horse to win all three in 2018.
Saturday’s Classic will highlight the two-day, 14-race, $34 million Breeders’ Cup slate at Del Mar Racetrack near San Diego. With Sovereignty out, early favorite’s status falls to Fierceness, who finished second to Sierra Leone in last year’s Classic at the same Del Mar track. Fierceness, coming off a Grade 1 victory in the Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar on August 30, is trained by Todd Pletcher and will break from the inside post on Saturday with John Velazquez aboard. Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown, also returns seeking a second straight victory.
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