By Byron King
Outfinishing the world’s best 3-year-old Thoroughbreds beneath the famed twin spires of Churchill Downs, Sovereignty ran his way into the Kentucky Derby (G1) winner’s circle May 3, and owner/breeder Godolphin into the history books.
Godolphin, the international Thoroughbred racing and breeding juggernaut founded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, took the elusive Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby double, capturing Churchill’s two most important races. Godolphin’s homebred Good Cheer rallied her way to a wet-track victory in the May 2 Kentucky Oaks (G1), followed a day later by another homebred, Sovereignty, who splashed past favored Journalism to prevail in the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths.
