Sovereignty Trainer Bill Mott Reflects on Skipping Preakness After Winning Belmont Stakes

Mott was asked about the decision to skip Preakness in his post-race interview following Sovereignty's victory.

Mott just barely missed out on the Triple Crown / Fox Sport

The 2025 Belmont Stakes delivered for those hoping for a competitive race, with Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty turning on the jets in the final stretch to blow past Preakness winner and overall favorite Journalism to win the day. It was a great win but a touch painful for those who entered this race season hoping to see a Triple Crown winner. Sovereignty won the Derby and Belmont but the team behind the horse opted to skip the Preakness Stakes last month.

After Saturday's race, Tom Rinaldi of Fox Sports found Sovereignty trainer Bill Mott and asked him about the decision to hold the horse out of the second leg of the Triple Crown.

"It turned out good," Mott said when asked how the decision manifested itself on the track Saturday. "If we wouldn't have won today we would've taken a lot of criticism. It turned out good. Sometimes you make the right decision and a lot of times we make the wrong ones. But today it really worked out well."

Tom Rinaldi catches up with Sovereignty's trainer Bill Mott after winning the Belmont Stakes! pic.twitter.com/P1EoOqzhfr

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 7, 2025

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, so it's easy to feel like skipping Preakness was a missed opportunity for Sovereignty to go down in the history books. But if Mott didn't make that call there's zero guarantee Sovereignty would've had the legs to beat Journalism at Saratoga Springs.

One final great race to wrap up the Triple Crown season. Even if the audience was robbed of a bit of drama by Mott's call to keep Sovereignty out of Triple Crown contention.

---

More on Sports Illustrated

feed