Saratoga Notebook Presented By NYRA Bets: Sovereignty Has Final Tune-Up For Jim Dandy

Wandering Eyes · Saturday at 08:56 PM

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–The work is done. Now, Sovereignty (Into Mischief) waits for the $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course next Saturday.

Winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes, Sovereignty's connections are confident he is ready to make his first start since that Triple Crown campaign.

Saturday, morning at 7:30, Sovereignty had his final work for the Jim Dandy–and third since the Belmont–going four furlongs in 49.82 (12/41) under Neil Poznansky, the assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

Sovereignty worked by himself; in his last two works, he went with 4-year-old stablemate Jefferson Street (Street Sense).

“I felt like working him alone,” Mott said, sitting on his pony Rocky in the grassy area outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “I thought he had done enough in his last two works; we didn't need him to do any more. It looked like he was moving fine to me. The main thing is that Neil thought it was good. He thought he felt very similar to before he went into the last race.”

Poznansky, a former jockey, has been Sovereignty's partner for his works and he was impressed with how things went on a perfect Saturday morning.

“Great, just what he needed,” Poznansky said back at the barn. “He did just what he needed. He didn't do too much; he didn't do enough. He is a little more laid back when he's on his own. It's a great position to be in, being able to get on him, but I wouldn't want to mess it up. There is always a little pressure involved.”

Sovereignty, owned by Godolphin LLC, has won three of four starts this year. In addition to the Derby and Belmont, he took the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream and was second in the GI Curlin Florida Derby.

He has been in Saratoga ever since the Kentucky Derby. Mott has carefully mapped out Sovereignty's campaign. The ultimate summer goal is the $1.25-million GI DraftKings Travers Stakes on Aug. 23.

First, though, the Jim Dandy.

“It's an important race,” he said. “It's a means of getting to the Travers. The Travers is the major event. You have to have a little luck. They have to go around there; it's not official until those blinking lights say it's official.”

Work of the Day from #Saratoga—Sovereignty worked 4 Furlongs in 49.82 on July 19th, 2025, for trainer Bill Mott. pic.twitter.com/bk7SjrnLyr

— 1/ST TV (@Watch1ST) July 19, 2025

Sovereignty, the top ranked 3-year-old in the country, gets his daily dose of carrots from his pal, longtime employee of trainer Bill Mott, after he had his final work for next weekend's Jim Dandy at Saratoga. pic.twitter.com/nK2riyJkW7

— Tim Wilkin (@tjwilkin) July 19, 2025

Good Cheer On Target For Alabama Stakes

The sting of having the long winning streak snapped has dulled at the Saratoga barn of trainer Brad Cox.

He and his team are getting ready to start another one with the talented 3-year-old filly Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro).

Good Cheer, owned by Godolphin LLC, won the first seven starts of her career before tasting defeat in the GI Acorn Stakes at Saratoga on June 6. She was fifth, beaten nine lengths by La Cara (Street Sense) over a sloppy track.

“It did not go as well as we would have liked,” Cox said Saturday morning outside his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “We could not find anything wrong with her. She came out of it in good order.”

The next target for Good Cheer, who won the prestigious GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in May, is the GI Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 16. Following the Acorn, Cox said he backed off on Good Cheer.

She has had three works since July 5, the latest being Saturday when she breezed four furlongs in 48.58 on the main track. Cox is liking what the filly is showing him.

“It was really good,” Cox said. “We have really liked what we have seen from her training over the last month, and she is on target for the Alabama. We have a ways to go, but let's put it this way: if she runs the way she breezed this morning, we'll be in good shape.”

Good Cheer won her first seven starts by a combined 401/4 lengths, including a 2 1/4-length score in the Kentucky Oaks.

Losing the Acorn, while disappointing, did remove the pressure of the winning streak.

“I suppose,” Cox said, “but the pressure is on for her to show up and run well in the next one. We know that was not her in the last race. When she got to the half-mile pole, for whatever reason, she just did not go on with it.”

Cox also had 5-year-old Highland Falls (Curlin), last year's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, on the main. He worked five furlongs in company with 4-year-old 'TDN Rising Star' Tarifa (Bernardini) in 1:01 (2/14) as he prepares for the GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2.

Highland Falls made his first start since a ninth-place finish in last November's GI Breeders' Cup Classic a winning one when he won a one-mile allowance race at Aqueduct by 5 1/2 lengths on June 27.

“He breezed great,” Cox said. “That was a good race off the layoff. He was ready for that and well, it was one turn, and we know he is a two-turn horse. That tightened him up and he has had two good works now at Saratoga. If all goes well next week, we'll be ready for the Whitney.”

Manny's Got A Dandy Ride

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart knew he was going to need a jockey for Mo Plex (Complexity) in next Saturday's $500,000 GII Jim Dandy Stakes. He reached out to someone who knows the horse well.

He will give Manny Franco a leg up when New York-bred Mo Plex, owned by R and H Stable, takes his shot against the likes of Sovereignty (Into Mischief), Baeza (McKinzie) and Sandman (Tapit) in the Jim Dandy.

Franco is one of three riders to pilot Mo Plex in his eight-race career. Irad Ortiz Jr. has ridden him four times, Franco three and Joseph Ramos, one of the leading riders at Horseshoe Indianapolis once. Ramos rode him when Mo Plex won the GIII Ohio Derby in his last start.

Ortiz had worked Mo Plex in two works, but it was Franco who got the call for his final Jim Dandy work on Friday. Ortiz also rode Hill Road (Quality Road) in the GI Belmont Stakes and Hill Road is being pointed to the Jim Dandy.

“This is the toughest riding colony in the country right now,” Franco said Saturday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. “There are a lot of guys. You have to earn it.”

In Friday's four-furlong work, which Mo Plex completed in 48.84 (22/78), Franco was on him in the morning for the first time.

“He is a nice horse, he did it the right way,” Franco said. “You have to get him going a little bit, but as soon as he gets into his rhythm, he is good. I am glad to be on him.”