“He knows he is hitting the wire, and he is throttling down a little bit. That’s how Cigar was,” Bill Mott had said just a couple of weeks ago as Sovereignty was having his workout, preparing for the Travers Stakes. It had been a hugely successful season for Bill Mott and his 3-year-old thoroughbred. A Kentucky Derby and a Belmont Stakes—that’s good enough to deem a season a success.

But the August 23 race at Saratoga was something that the Hall of Fame trainer was keen on this time. “It’s probably our best chance so far to do it,” the veteran trainer had said after Sovereignty had beaten Baeza’s challenge to win the Jim Dandy Stakes on July 26. Why was the Travers so important to a trainer who has won 4 Triple Crown races? Well, it was all about breaking the unlucky 13 curse.

On August 24, Freelance horse racing writer Tim Wilkin shared a clip on X in which Bill Mott was talking to the reporters after Sovereignty’s historic win at the Travers Stakes. The caption of the post was enough to tell you that this is a win the 2-time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner will cherish for a long time. “HOF trainer Bill Mott on winning his first  Travers after failing with 13 starters — the first was in 1995.” Boldly enough, the Sovereignty trainer isn’t looking backwards. Rather, he is setting a challenge for himself: “Now the only thing we have to do is come back and try to repeat.”

The man mostly has nothing left to achieve in horse racing, but he is as hungry for success as he has ever been. Nevertheless, on January 24, 2025, Bill Mott is also taking a moment to soak in the iconic win for himself. His first-ever G1 Travers Stakes win. The 4-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer said, “The Kentucky Derby was great, but I must say, for me, I think the Travers is a great race to win. And it’s very satisfying and gratifying for me to get that done.”

Mott really showed the power of perseverance. We are talking about a trainer who was the youngest to be inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame. Before there was Sovereignty, there was Cigar, who was enthralling the horse racing world. To be honest, even without the Travers Stakes win, Mott would be one of the biggest icons of the sport. But the 72-year-old is a relieved man to have added the $1.25 million race to his accolades.

In fact, this win reflects more on his 3-year-old colt, who has completely owned the 2025 season.

Sovereignty’s historic win that sets up iconic comparisons

The Travers Stakes starts a flurry of premier G1 races in the coming weeks. That includes the Pacific Classic (August 30), the Jockey Club Gold Cup (August 31), the Del Mar Futurity (September 7), and the Pennsylvania Derby (September 20). But most eyes were on Saratoga and whether the Into Mischief colt would do something uncharacteristic.

Well, winning the 1 ¼ mile race by 10 lengths could be deemed something that you don’t see every day. So dominant and unchallenged was Sovereignty that even his jockey, Junior Alvarado, was quite convinced: “This is the horse of a lifetime.” Even Mott has been seeing the legendary aura of Cigar in the Kentucky-bred colt as he prepares for the final big race of the season, the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

With 2 Triple Crown races won and now another G1 race victory in which he registered the 3rd-fastest time in the race’s history, the Godolphin Racing LLC colt has left all the competitors behind in the season. That includes Journalism, who had to trail Sovereignty in both the Derby and the Belmont. In fact, when the Michael McCarthy trainee won at the Preakness, Sovereignty was being rested.

The point that we are trying to make is that since the Run to the Roses on May 3, Sovereignty hasn’t trailed anybody at the final post. And if it’s the same on November 1st, there is a chance Bill Mott’s champion will be the Thoroughbred of 2025.