Sovereignty wins the Breeders' Cup Classic in his final race

Sovereignty has ended his racing career with the biggest win in North American horse racing. The four-year-old colt won the $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday, 31 October.

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, he beat The Puma by 1¾ lengths, covering the mile and a quarter on a fast dirt track in 2 minutes 0.36 seconds. Knightsbridge, also trained by Bill Mott, was third. Forever Young, the Japanese-trained winner in 2025, finished fifth, and Golden Tempo, this year's Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, was sixth.

The victory was a kind of redemption. Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 2025 and was expected to run in last year's Classic, but was withdrawn after developing a fever. He was still named 2025 Horse of the Year. This was his first race in almost three months, after he missed his planned warm-up race.

It was a third Classic victory for Mott, who also won with Cigar in 1995 and Drosselmeyer in 2011. Sovereignty retires with eight wins from 13 starts.

This year's Breeders' Cup was the fourth held at Keeneland, after 2015, 2020 and 2022.