SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Sovereignty outran Journalism on Saturday in a Kentucky Derby rematch in the 157th Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, the race again showcasing the best in horse racing.
Like last year, it featured the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winners. However, unlike last year and for the first time since 2018, one of those two won to secure two of the three legs of the Triple Crown.
“I think they are three really good horses,” Sovereignty trainer Bill Mott said. “I’m glad [Sovereignty] was able to come back and have a race like he did in the Derby.”
It was the second Belmont win for Mott. He spends most of his summer tending to his horses at Saratoga, so winning the Belmont at Saratoga was extra special.
“This is home,” Mott said. “It’s the race we were pointing for after the Derby, and fortunately it worked out very well.
“The horse was good. Junior rode him well.”
It was the second Belmont at Saratoga, with renovations being made to its usual home at Belmont Park on Long Island.
Rodriguez, who made his Triple Crown debut, burst out and led the field of eight in the 1¼- mile race until the top of the stretch when Journalism made a surge. Followed closely behind was Sovereignty, with jockey Junior Alvarado aboard. He caught Journalism almost instantly and ran away with it.
The 5-2 second favorite finished in 2:00.69, beating Preakness winner Journalism by three lengths.
“He broke very well again today like he’s been doing,” Alvarado said. “He put himself in a good spot. I was a little shocked how close, but at the same time, I’m happy with how easily he was doing everything. As a jockey, I was very happy where he was.”
Journalism ended up in second again, and Baeza was third — the same 1-2-3 as the Kentucky Derby. Journalism, the only horse to run in all three legs, entered the gate at the Belmont as the 2-1 favorite, with Baeza the third favorite at 7-2.
Sovereignty paid $7 to win, $3.20 to place and $2.30 to show. Journalism returned $3.20 and $2.30, and Baeza paid $2.60.
Sovereignty led off the first leg of the Triple Crown by winning the Derby in early May. The colt also edged Journalism in that race.
After the Derby win, the Godolphin-owned 3-year-old opted out of the Preakness to focus on the Belmont, forfeiting a shot at history to win the Triple Crown. The Triple Crown hasn’t been won since 2018, when Bob Baffert’s Justify won the 150th Belmont Stakes to secure the third jewel.
Despite winning both legs of the Triple Crown that Sovereignty entered, Mott and Godolphin’s Michael Banahan didn’t regret not running him in the Preakness Stakes.
“I think if you leave the races out of it, it’s what was the right thing to do for the horse,” Banahan said. “That’s what we talked about — what was the right thing for the horse to do going forward?”
One of the reasons Mott and Godolphin skipped the Preakness was that they didn’t want to exhaust the horse and wanted a long future for the three-year-old. There are a couple of stakes races later in the summer for three-year-olds, but the main one is at the end of the year, the Travers Stakes.
The Travers, at the end of the Saratoga meet, could be another loaded field and potentially another rematch between Journalism and Sovereignty.
“I’d love to come back and take a crack at the Travers in August,” Mott said. “It’s a race I’ve never won, but I think it’s a very important race for a three-year-old like Sovereignty. I think if he’s healthy, everybody would probably be in agreement that’s the race we would point to.”
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has offensive help on the way with a freshman receiver who just might make a difference against No. 9 Texas on Saturday.
Dallas Wilson is practicing for the first time since injuring his left foot in training camp and is scheduled to make his collegiate debut against the Longhorns, coach Billy Napier said Monday.
Napier called Wilson’s availability “a big deal.”
“Three good days of work last week, and I thought he handled the load well,” Napier said. “He feels really good. So far, so good.”
Wilson, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound newcomer from Tampa, was the star of Florida’s spring game in April. He caught 10 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns, and all indications in fall practice pointed to it not being a fluke.
But Wilson injured his foot late in camp, spent weeks in a protective boot and watched from afar as the Gators (1-3, 0-1 SEC) struggled to move the ball and find the end zone. Florida scored 16, 10 and 7 points, respectively, in consecutive losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, raising speculation about Napier’s future in Gainesville.
Quarterback DJ Lagway has been the focus of the team’s offensive woes. The sophomore who went 6-1 as a starter last season missed most of the year dealing with injuries and looked rusty when the season began.
Although Lagway’s mechanics seemed improved in the team’s 26-7 setback at Miami on Sept. 20, his offensive line got manhandled and allowed way too much pressure for anyone to notice. Lagway completed 12 of 23 passes for 61 yards against the Hurricanes.
Napier used the off week to get Lagway more live-action reps in hopes of getting him “caught up.” But he also reiterated the need to “play better around him.”
“Each position group needs to step up,” Napier said. “More detail, eliminate errors, eliminate penalties, whatever the case may be. I just think more detail and better overall play around him. And, obviously, he needs to continue to get back closer to being himself.”
Dallas Wilson has been unable to help — until now. The Gators are confident he will change the narrative against the No. 1 scoring defense in the SEC.
“Just having him out is going to be amazing for us,” Lagway said. “His ability to go deep, his ability to make plays underneath and be able to make miraculous plays with the ball in his hands, it’s going to be great to have him back.”
SEC Network host Paul Finebaum said Monday that he would consider leaving ESPN to run for the U.S. Senate, representing Alabama.
The 70-year-old Finebaum said during a recent interview with Outkick that he’d run as a Republican to fill the seat vacated by former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, who has said he’ll run for Alabama governor in the 2026 elections. Tuberville’s current Senate term ends in 2027.
The qualifying deadline to run for Senate is Jan. 26, 2026. Finebaum said he would likely have to leave his hosting and analyst duties if he decided to run. He told Outkick he’d make a decision within the next 30-45 days.
Finebaum said he hadn’t seriously considered politics, but the assassination of Charlie Kirk was the impetus to give a run at politics further thought. He noted that he had received a “text” from “one or two people in Washington” gauging his interest in politics.
“[It was] something I never thought about before,” Finebaum told Outkick.
Finebaum is currently registered as a Republican in North Carolina, where he works for the SEC Network. He told Outkick he recently moved to Alabama, where he hosted a radio show for years, and would re-register there.
Finebaum hosted radio shows in Alabama for almost 30 years before joining ESPN and the SEC Network. He started his media career as a newspaper writer and columnist.
“Alabama has always been the place I’ve felt the most welcome, that I’ve cared the most about the people,” he said. “I’ve spoken to people from Alabama for 35 years, and I feel there is a connection that is hard to explain.”
Bobby Petrino has fired three defensive assistants just one day after being named interim head coach at Arkansas as part of an overhaul of the Razorbacks’ coaching staff.
Petrino dismissed defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and defensive assistant Marcus Woodson in the latest moves after being appointed interim coach for the rest of the season to replace Sam Pittman, who was fired Sunday following five-plus seasons as Arkansas’ head coach.
“I just felt like how we performed on Saturday gave me an indication that maybe Sam had lost the team a little bit because they generally had played really hard for him throughout his tenure,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said of the move, which came on the heels of a 56-13 home loss to Notre Dame.
Petrino, 64, returned to Arkansas in 2023 as offensive coordinator after serving in a number of jobs. In four years as the Razorbacks’ head coach, he went 34-17, including consecutive seasons with double-digit victories in 2010 and 2011.
“Coach Petrino, as we met yesterday, he accepted this opportunity with the understanding that he also wanted an opportunity to formally be a candidate for our head coaching position, and he will have that opportunity, but we’ll also subsequently run a search for our next head coach at the same time,” Yurachek said.
Pittman’s dismissal, Petrino’s temporary promotion and the defensive assistant dismissals weren’t the only changes. Chris Wilson was named the team’s interim defensive coordinator.
Petrino had high praise for Wilson, who was in his first year with the Razorbacks as an assistant defensive line coach.
“My experience [with Wilson] goes way back to having to battle against him when he had all the great defensive linemen at Mississippi State,” Petrino said. “Very, very impressed with what he’s done throughout his career. Guy’s got a Super Bowl ring. He brings a lot of credibility into the room.”
Several defensive players posted cryptic messages on social media following the firing of Williams, who had served as the team’s defensive coordinator since 2023. Yurachek and Petrino encouraged players to welcome change amid a 2-3 start to the season.
“The No. 1 thing is, you have to get used to change. You know, your whole life there’s going to be change. So how we handle that, our attitude on how we handle that, will determine how quickly we improve,” Petrino said.
Petrino was involved in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in April 2012 that left him with four broken ribs. At first, he said he was riding alone, but a police report revealed a woman was riding with him. The woman turned out to be a former Arkansas athlete who was in a romantic relationship with the married Petrino. The coach had given her a job in the football program and a $20,000 gift.
Petrino was fired by then-athletic director Jeff Long for misleading his bosses about what happened with the accident and his relationship with the football staffer.
Pittman, 63, went 32-34 with the Razorbacks.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.