Sovereignty Scratched From Breeders’ Cup Classic

[Wandering Eyes]

Godolphin's Sovereignty (Into Mischief), who was made the 6-5 favorite for Saturday's $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar when post positions were drawn on Monday, will be scratched from the race. The news was first reported in a Wednesday morning tweet by Daily Racing Form's David Grening.

The GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI DraftKings Travers Stakes hero spiked a fever post-travel to the West Coast, trainer Bill Mott told a media throng gathered at his barn Tuesday morning. The Hall of Fame conditioner reported that the colt was otherwise well, but that he would be monitored and that if Sovereignty was not 100%, that he would be scratched from the 10-furlong centerpiece of Breeders' Cup weekend.

“Yesterday afternoon about 3 o'clock, he re-spiked another fever even though he had some medication in him, from 6 o'clock that morning he re-spiked another fever and we re-treated him and now he's on antibiotics,” Mott told FanDuel TV's Scott Hazelton back at his barn shortly after 7 a.m. PT. “He seems to be doing well this morning, his temp is one tick above normal and he looks bright and pretty good. But he's definitely out of the Breeders' Cup.”

Mott said the horse appears none the worse for the illness.

“No, it's unbelievable,” he replied when asked if there had been any change in the colt's demeanor. “He still has not missed an oat, he's in his haybag, he eats all the hay and alfalfa that's on the ground, he's got his nose in there and he seems to have a good attitude. I don't know if he knows he's sick.

“There's nothing I would have changed, there's nothing you can do about it,” the Hall of Famer continued. “When it comes to something like this, it's just bad luck. You've got viruses and bacteria floating around in the air and for whatever reason, his immune system didn't battle it off. We would have loved to run, we'd love to showcase our horse, I know there were a lot of people who were really looking forward to seeing him run as well as our entire team. We were all anxious and excited about the opportunity to run.”

Mott said that the plan was always for Sovereignty to be laid up in Kentucky after the Classic pending a decision on his future. Mott said Sovereignty was to fly to Kentucky early next week.

Sovereignty's defection leaves a field of nine for the Classic. The 4-1 second choice ante-post is Fierceness (City of Light).

This story will be updated

 

Sovereignty is out of Breeders Cup. “We're going to scratch,” Bill Mott said.

— David Grening (@DRFGrening) October 29, 2025

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