Sovereignty wins the 151th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, the first leg of the Triple Crown...By Clevelandurbanews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader
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By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, LOUISVILLE, Kentucky-Thousands of Derby fans gathered at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday with post time for the 151st Derby at 7pm.
Ridden by jockey Jurior Alvarado, Sovereignty won the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby on a muddy racetrack, winning the first leg of the coveted Triple Crown.
The Bill Mott-trained horse won with a time of 2:02.31 after closing at 7-1 odds, with race favourite Journalism placing and late entry Baeza showing.
"I want to thank my lord Jesus for giving me this Derby win," jockey Alvarado, a Venezuelan immigrant, told reporters after winning his first Derby, with Mott adding that "it's great, and I think it will probably take a while to sink in."
The outspoken jockey is also somewhat of an activist, having stated previously and since President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January, that "the opportunities that are getting denied are heartbreaking."
He knows jockeys in limbo with their immigration status, he has said.
The 19 horses that took to the racetrack for a two-and-a-half-mile run competed for a winning purse of $3.1 million, which went to first-place winner Sovereignty and its owner, Godolphin. The total purse was $5 million, like last year, and the top five horses received payouts, including $1 million for second place, $500,000 for third, $250,000 for fourth, and $150,000 for fifth place.
Journalism, an odds-favorite at (3-1), had to settle for second place, and Beta third, with the trio battling it out as Sovereignty crossed the finish line first before a roaring crowd of spectators.
This year's race was not as controversial as the Derby two years ago, when 12 horses died weeks before the race, upsetting PETA, which demanded an explanation from Derby officials.
A $2 bet on Sovereignty to win paid out $17.96, with payouts of $48.32 for an exacta, $231.12 for a trifecta and $1,682.27 for a superfecta on a $1 bet.
The 2025 Kentucky Derby had an official attendance of 147,406 at Churchill Downs. This is slightly below the previous year's attendance of approximately 156,700 and the record attendance of around 170,500 set in 2015, before the pandemic that swept the nation in 2020 and crippled Derby attendance for two years thereafter.
If Sovereignty wins the Preakness on May 14 in Baltimore and subsequently the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, the second and third legs of the Triple Crown, respectively, he will have won the Triple Crown, more recently behind Justify in 2018, American Pharaoh in 2015, Affirmed in 1978, Seattle Slew in 1977, and Secretariat in 1973.
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