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Sovereignty is being given time to recover from his Kentucky Derby triumph as connections ponder a potential Triple Crown bid, with the colt emerging from Saturday's victory with a minor scrape to his right foreleg.
The Bill Mott-trained colt gave Godolphin their first victory in America's most famous race, fulfilling a long-held ambition for owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum as part of an extraordinary weekend that saw the global operation land four prestigious three-year-old classics across two continents.
Speaking on Sunday outside his barn at Churchill Downs, Hall of Fame trainer Mott theorised the approximate four-inch scrape occurred when Sovereignty appeared to briefly clip rival Chunk of Gold's heels in the opening strides of the Gr.1 Kentucky Derby.
"We've got to come to a conclusion probably in the next few days, but it's not going to be this morning," Mott said regarding a potential tilt at the Gr.1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse.
The 1 3/16-mile Preakness comes just two weeks after the 1 1/4-mile Derby, with the final race in the series, the Gr.1 Belmont Stakes, three weeks after that. The Belmont Stakes, customarily at 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park, will be run at 1 1/4 miles this year at Saratoga Racecourse, as it was in 2024, due to ongoing reconstruction at Belmont Park.
Only 13 horses have swept all three races to become Triple Crown winners, the most recent being American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018.
"Over the years, I think people realised that spacing these horses out a little bit gives you the opportunity to make them last a little longer. ... You want the career to last more than five weeks," Mott said.
Although American Pharoah was successful after the Triple Crown, taking the Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Classic against older runners in the fall of 2025 in his final start, Justify never raced after the Triple Crown. Mystik Dan, the 2024 Derby winner trained by Kenny McPeek, competed in all three legs of the series last year, and after a second in the Preakness and an eighth in the Belmont, needed a break for much of the second half of 2024.
Michael McCarthy, trainer of runner-up and beaten favourite Journalism, said that it was hard to know for certain on Sunday morning where the son of Curlin lands next. However, he did mention that the Preakness Stakes as being on the table.
"We'll give him a day or two to get his feet underneath him and see where we're at," McCarthy said. "He's run well back off of quick rest before, so we'll see."
McCarthy earned his first Triple Crown race victory with Rombauer in the 2021 Preakness Stakes and would be grateful for another chance to contest the 1 3/16-mile test if the decision is made to run.
"It's still very prestigious in its own right," McCarthy said. "I would like to win any Triple Crown race. I would have liked to put the Derby in the books and worried about the rest of the stuff later. Preakness carries a lot of weight; Belmont carries a lot of weight. It's a great five weeks of racing. Just to be part of it is a big deal."
Sovereignty's Derby triumph was the pinnacle of an extraordinary 48 hours for Godolphin that concluded with the English 1000 Guineas victory of Desert Flower at Newmarket.
Desert Flower is trained by Charlie Appleby who secured a classic double for his yard after preparing Godolphin's Ruling Court to win the English 2000 Guineas just eight hours before Sovereignty's Kentucky Derby success.
Godolphin's phenomenal quartet of Group One wins began when the Brad Cox-trained Good Cheer claimed the Kentucky Oaks on Saturday.
"It's been a great weekend," Appleby told the English press after Desert Flower's 1000 Guineas win.
"What happened this weekend has just been remarkable, in America with the Derby and the Oaks and the two Guineas here.
"I don't think it's ever been done before and it'll probably be a long time before it's done again."
Mott told American reporters that he will give Kentucky Derby hero Sovereignty "two or three days off" before deciding if the 3YO continues on the US Triple Crown path to the Preakness Stakes.
"We certainly respect the Triple Crown and what it means, but we're not dead set on it," Mott said.
"We'll have to let the horse tell us how he's doing in the next little while and then we'll go from there."
The Preakness Stakes is run at Baltimore on May 17 with the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 8.
Unbeaten Justify is the most recent US Triple Crown winner, completing the Kentucky Derby-Preakness Stakes-Belmont Stakes clean sweep in 2017.
Baeza and Sandman will target the June 7 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse.
"I don't think he had the best of trips," said trainer John Shirreffs about Baeza. "Running on an off-track for the first time, that's a little bit of a different experience. But he handled everything so well."
Meeting Baeza in the Belmont Stakes will likely be dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's Gr.1 Arkansas Derby winner Sandman.
"I had said prior to the Derby that the only way we would go to the Preakness is if we won the Derby," Casse said about skipping the middle leg for the Belmont. "He's won at Saratoga; I like the timing for it."
Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing's Owen Almighty was one of the biggest surprises of the Derby, sticking around for fifth after prompting the pace. With the Derby complete, trainer Brian Lynch reiterated his desire to return the son of Speightstown to shorter contests.
Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning that Gr.2 Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez, who was scratched from the Derby with a foot bruise, is his potential Preakness representative. Derby pacesetter and reigning 2YO champion Citizen Bull, who finished 15th, will head back to California and regroup.
On track at Churchill Downs Sunday morning was Steve Asmussen-trained Preakness hopeful Clever Again. Oaklawn Park's Hot Springs Stakes winner jogged two miles over a sloppy track.
Justify is also the sire of Godolphin's English 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court who is now second favourite behind The Lion In Winter for the English Derby, run at Epsom Downs on June 7.