You can’t get much closer than this. On a week chock-full of top-grade action, Sovereignty’s bravura performance in the Travers Stakes was rewarded with a big 138pt boost on Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s exclusive Global Rankings.
The Godolphin duly moves up the charts – specifically gaining a place to stand at #2 in this week’s rankings. That is a single point – one single, solitary point – behind world leader Ka Ying Rising, with the current state of play 2154pt versus 2153pt.
Although the Hong Kong star, who now has 18 weeks at the top, is due back in action on September 7 for his prep race ahead of the Everest in Australia, his return may not come in time to fend off the Kentucky Derby hero, who has the recency bias in his favour over the next couple of weeks. We shall see.
Either way, Sovereignty produced a standout performance at Saratoga on Saturday [Aug 23] to plug a significant hole on trainer Bill Mott’s resumé with a dazzling ten-length victory in the $1.25m Travers Stakes.
“It’s something I’ve been waiting on,” said Mott, a dual Kentucky Derby-winning trainer. “I had two or three races on my bucket list and one was the Met Mile which we got that done with Cody's Wish and the one that was left was the Travers. Now, the only thing to do is to try and come back and repeat.”
Winning rider Junior Alvarado was full of praise for Sovereignty – and his trainer. “This is the horse of a lifetime,” said the jockey. “All my big wins come from him. I can’t give thanks enough to the Godolphin people and to Billy Mott for keeping their trust in me and letting me ride these beautiful horses.
“He was amazing today. He showed something maybe a little different today,” Alvarado said. “We got kind of boxed in a little bit between horses. I just didn’t want to go wide in the first turn. He handles everything I try with him. He just does it so professionally with no hesitation.”
Mott added: “Our horse just proved how good he was when he pulled away in the last eighth of a mile. He’s pretty special.”
All roads now lead to the Breeders’ Cup Classic for Sovereignty, who may go to Del Mar without another run.
Among other points of Stateside interest last weekend were another G1 success for Thorpedo Anna (#7 from #8, +31pt) in the $500,000 Personal Ensign, although the reigning Horse of the Year had to overcome a fierce bid from Dorth Vader in a dramatic stretch duel. Only a nose separated the pair at the wire.
“That wasn't as easy as we'd want it to be, but she is a champion,” said adoring trainer Kenny McPeek. “That is why she wins.”
Also on the Travers Stakes card, sprint star Book’em Danno (#13 from #12, +40pt) held off late-running Scotland to claim the G1 Forego, while progressive three-year-old Patch Adams (#55 from #244, +252pt) got the better of a tight verdict in the H Allen Jerkens Memorial.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Sovereignty’s owners Godolphin also enjoyed the most eyecatching victory of York’s prestigious four-day Ebor meeting as Ombudsman (#9 from #42, +266pt) claimed the Juddmonthe International in fine style.
In truth, this was a weird race as the winner’s French-trained pacemaker Birr Castle established a 20-length lead and led into the final furlong until Ombudsman cruised past on the way to a 3½-length success to reverse Eclipse Stakes form with Delacroix.
“I didn't want to be the one who chased our pacemaker too early but when we came into the straight I had to chase him," said winning jockey William Buick. “When he passed Birr Castle he actually quickened again. It was a monster performance.”
Though this was only the second G1 success of his career, Ombudsman has always been highly regarded and will be expected to climb higher in the rankings in due course.
“Look, he’s a lovely horse, a grand horse, he’s picked up well and won it well and won it emphatically,” said co-trainer John Gosden. “The Eclipse was a muddling affair, as we said, and we’ll leave it at that. It was a great win but I thought for a moment that André (Fabre) was going to be the lucky man.
“We never raced him at two and he came along gradually. He’s getting better and better.”
Among other notable performances at York came the latest G1 win for dual Oaks winner Minnie Hauk (#14 from #25, +140pt) … or make that four-time Oaks winner as this latest success came in the Yorkshire Oaks, and the Ballydoyle filly had already won the Cheshire Oaks, although that contest holds only Listed status.
Benefiting from a lack of star power in the staying division, hardy annual Trawlerman (#19 from #29, +76pt) added to his Ascot laurels in the G2 Lonsdale Cup.
Australia’s star mare Via Sistina re-enters the rankings at #4 after landing her tenth G1 win on her return to action in the Winx Stakes at Randwick, a race she also won in 2024 at the beginning of a campaign in which she won seven races at the highest level.
And just as it was 12 months previously, when Via Sistina recorded a narrow victory, this wasn’t plain sailing as the seven-year-old was all out to hold Chris Waller-trained stablemate Aeliana. Hold on she did, however, and this was really only a prep race (on heavy ground over an inadequate seven furlongs) at the start of a spring campaign focussed on retaining her Cox Plate title.
“The deeper in her prep she goes, the better she will be,” suggested jockey James McDonald, who admitted to having had a “hell of a fright”.
• View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires
‘He writes his own story’ – Rebel’s Romance back in world Top 5 with eighth G1 win
‘He’s just in a different league’ – Sierra Leone asserts his superiority in the Whitney
• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.