07-05-2025
Bill Mott's Kentucky Derby win with Sovereignty is exclamation point on trainer's resume
Bill Mott can say it with his chest now.
Sovereignty captured the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby, marking the first time Mott has watched his horse cross the finish line first.
Mott was awarded the Kentucky Derby winner in 2019 with Country House only after Maximum Security was disqualified for interference. Although Mott didn't consider his first win to come with an asterisk, Sovereignty won with an exclamation point Saturday, holding off Journalism and a late charge from Baeza to give him an undeniable win.
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"They were both exciting," Mott said of his Derby wins. "We were thrilled with the last one and this one was equally or more special."
He didn't need the win for any sort of validation. Mott became the youngest thoroughbred trainer ever inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1998 at the age of 45.
He's been that guy.
Mott estimated he hasn't missed a spring or fall meet since he moved into Barn 38 on the backside of Churchill Downs in 1980. He surpassed Henry Forrest for the record of wins at the famed track in 1986 and held it for 31 years until he was passed by Dale Romans in November 2017.
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Mott acknowledged that records are meant to be broken, but the feeling he got from Sovereignty's win will live on forever and can never be taken away.
Mott was so enamored with the performance that he couldn't keep his eyes off the continual loop of the race that played on a monitor during the post-race news conference. Whenever jockey Junior Alvarado and Michael Banahan, who represented the Godolphin ownership group, took questions, Mott repeatedly glanced up, saying he, "can never get enough of it."
'I'm fascinated by the trip that he got,' Mott said. 'It's just great here. They're lining up across the racetrack, and it looks like a Calvary charge, and by the time they get down to the turn, I mean, Junior's on the fence.'
Mott didn't believe Sovereignty could win if he had to go wide on both turns. Thanks to Alvarado's guidance, his theory was not put to the test.
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It wrapped up the first Kentucky Derby win for Alvarado and the first for Godolphin. Mott considered being able to secure the first win for Sheikh Mohammed, who founded the ownership group, a "feather in my cap."
The field itself didn't have the sizzle of Derby's past, as Journalism seemed to be the only star of the group. The rest, even among contenders, had only proven to be good horses, not necessarily great.
There have been many years when trainers Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher — who have six and two wins, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby — had multiple entries and multiple contenders in the race.
Both had horses scratch late in the week due to foot bruises.
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The injury to Grande continued Pletcher's slide in this event going back to Forte, the morning-line favorite in 2023 who had to scratch the morning of the race. And last year, Fierceness couldn't overcome a bad start and finished 15th.
Baffert, back at Churchill Downs after a three-year suspension, still had Citizen Bull running from the No. 1 post. But his best chance to win was his colt that scratched, Rodriguez.
Those two scratches allowed Sovereignty to post from gate 16 instead of 18. It was a small difference that ultimately may have helped as Mott defended the field as being more talented than some observers believed after seeing them train all week.
"You could look at a half a dozen of them and say, 'Wow, this horse is really doing well,'" Mott said. "So I think we'd beat a group of horses that was talented and doing quite well. And obviously (Journalism) the horse from California that finished second is well thought of and it makes you feel pretty good when your horse can outrun a horse like that."
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The Kentucky Derby is the most unpredictable major sporting event in the nation, possibly the world. There are no safeguards in place to ensure the best horses get a favorable trip.
There's no homecourt or homefield advantage to help tilt the outcome for any of the entrants. The luck of the draw is a cliché for a reason, as even the post position is based on a random selection.
The clutter of a 20-horse field — or in Saturday's case, just 19 — means that unless it has both the speed and stamina to lead wire to wire, at some point it's going to have to navigate traffic and show some toughness.
The best horse doesn't always win.
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The best trip does.
Mott has Sovereignty positioned to have many more of those trips in the future.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@ follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Bill Mott Kentucky Derby 2025: Sovereignty trainer makes history
