Some Saturday Miscellaneous

 No surprise who won today's Jim Dandy Stakes (Gr. 2):

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Belmont Stakes at Saratoga 2025 Results

Sovereignty beat Journalism in this year's Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.  It was a very exciting race.  Rodriguez set the pace for the winner to win handily in the homestretch.  It was cleanly run race, unlike the Preakness.

I liked the way the winning jockey was congratulated by the second-place jockey.  It showed real class.

The first three finishers of this year's Kentucky Derby finished in the top three this year.  Baeza was third, and Rodriguez finished fourth in the eight-horse field.

Sovereignty is the first horse in history to have won the Kentucky Derby, intentionally have skipped the Preakness, and won the Belmont.

A lot of people are going to criticize trainer Bill Mott for skipping the Preakness and losing a chance at the Triple Crown, but frankly, with the shorter distance of this year's Belmont, any Triple Crown win would have not meant much.  The real Belmont Stakes, long at a mile-and-a-half, is the Test of Champions.

The time for the mile-and-a-quarter Belmont was 2:00.69, a respectable time for this track and distance.  Of course, nobody in the media, including Fox Sports, was going to post the REAL  stakes, track, and world record at a mile-and-a-half.  The broadcast media don't even DO that anymore with the Triple Crown races.  I guess they feel there is no point to it since those records have stood for 52 years.

Sovereignty will likely win Horse of the Year.

The race is already up from Fox Sports YouTube channel:

Earlier:   Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty and Preakness winner Journalism will face off today at the Belmont Stakes, held this year at Saratoga as Belmont Park is undergoing renovations.

Eight horses are in this year's race.

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Kentucky Derby 2025 Results

 On a somewhat off track, Sovereignty has won the 151st Kentucky Derby for Godolphin Stable.   Journalism, the favorite, came in second, while Baeza came in third.

Baeza, as longtime racing fans know, is named for jockey great Braulio Baeza (born 1940), who,  despite all his many wins, is perhaps best remembered for riding the second-place horse in the legendary 1973 Belmont Stakes, Twice a Prince.

The time was 2:02.31.  Impressive on this condition of track.  The early fractions were quite fast.

Bill Mott is the trainer.  Junior Alvarado is the jockey for his first Kentucky Derby.

The winner's pedigree is here.  Bernardini is the broodmare sire.  He won the 2006 Preakness and Travers.

The race via NBC Sports YouTube channel:

Blood Horse link