Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Classic because of a fever

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) – Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty has been scratched and will not run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday after catching a fever this week, taking the favorite out of the $7 million world championship race.

The Breeders’ Cup announced the scratch of the country’s top 3-year-old horse on Wednesday after trainer Bill Mott told the Daily Racing Form about the decision he and his camp made. Mott had previously said Sovereignty not racing was a possibility.

“It’s not good for the race; it’s not good for racing,” said Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, who won the Classic five times. “Any time you have a great horse that doesn’t run when planned, it’s disappointing. But the horse is going to be fine. It was a fever. Just the timing is terrible.”

Sovereignty opened as a heavy 6-5 morning line favorite in the field of 10, which also includes Derby and Belmont runner-up and Preakness winner Journalism. The Breeders’ Cup Classic was expected to determine the horse of the year.

The adjusted odds made Fierceness the new favorite at 5-2. Fellow 4-year-olds Forever Young and Sierra Leone, the reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic champ, are 7-2, while Journalism is 5-1.

“It doesn’t change the complexion of the race at all – not at all,” said Bailey, now an analyst for NBC Sports. “There are so many other marquee horses in there. Yes, it lessens the race without a horse of his caliber in it, but it’s still a fantastic race and it doesn’t change the way the race will be run, I don’t think, in any way.”

Mott and ownership have made it clear over the past several months that they would play it safe with Sovereignty, including the call to skip the Preakness after he won the Derby and looked like a legitimate Triple Crown candidate.

“That’s been Bill Mott’s nature all along,” Bailey said. “It’s always about the horse first, and if everything’s not 100%, then he’s not going to carry on, so that’s not a surprise.”