Immediately after Sovereignty’s decisive win over Baeza and Hill Road in the Jim Dandy stretch, trainer William Mott was, for a reserved South Dakotan, emotive. His athlete had just brought one of his usual deep closing runs to take the win, and in fact for a few strides he was running dead last as he and jockey Junior Alvarado fired up. The run was not simply in time to hit the wire at a mile-and-an-eighth; it had been something else, too, bringing the trainer a flash look of confirmation that he and the team had been on the right track since the June 7 Belmont, nearly two months back.
“Hopefully he comes back good and trains as well for the Travers. We’re trying to get ready for the Travers and that’s the main objective for everybody,” the trainer said.
Quite a lot of the playing public thought he would pull it off, perhaps not with the cliff-hanging moment he provided, but still. Going off at an expectedly low 1-2, Sovereignty paid $3.00.
For his part, Junior Alvarado was never in doubt.