With the Triple Crown trail complete for another season and the form working out real well, Belmont hero Sovereignty returns to Saratoga for the $500,000 Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes of 2025 on Saturday, July 26 as a hot favorite.
Four rivals face the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner at the Spa over 1,800m. Sovereignty has raced three of them before, including two he beat in some style here in The Test of the Champion in June in John Shirreffs’ Baeza and Amo Racing runner Hill Road.
Last month’s Belmont received all the advertising needed when second-place Journalism, who previously triumphed in the Preakness Stakes, came out and landed the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey over the weekend. He again surged late up the home stretch and confirmed Pimlico form with Gosger and Goal Oriented.
Sandman, who made the show in the Preakness but only managed seventh in the Kentucky Derby prior to that, takes on old rival Sovereignty again in the Jim Dandy Stakes of 2025. Under the terms of this race, however, penalties apply to previous graded winners.
Both Sandman and Sovereignty share topweight for previous Grade I successes. Victory in the Arkansas Derby on The Road to the Kentucky Derby this spring is the reason why the former carries a penalty for the Mark Casse barn. As for Godolphin & Bill Mott’s Into Mischief colt, he won the two legs of the Triple Crown he featured in.
Despite now conceding 4lb to Baeza and 2lb to Hill Road, the Belmont result suggests Sovereignty has plenty in hand over both. He defeated them by 6.5 and 9.5 lengths respectively, so it should take more than the revised weights for a turnabout. Handicappers know how solid this form is because of Journalism’s performances.
Ohio Derby Winner Mo Plex a New Opponent
Jeremiah Englehart brings the one horse in the Jim Dandy Stakes of 2025 that Sovereignty hasn’t beaten yet back to Saratoga Springs. Mo Plex win both his starts at the Spa as a juvenile last season, but didn’t have a Triple Crown campaign like the rest of this field.
A colt by Complexity out of an Uncle Mo mare, he landed a second career Grade III in the Ohio Derby around Thistledown last month. Mo Plex ran out a comfortable winner by a couple of lengths over Chunk Of Gold. That one finished ninth in the Kentucky Derby, some 16 lengths behind Sovereignty.
While Mo Plex made the show on his only previous Grade I start in the fall, collateral form suggests he has even more to find than those who ran in the Triple Crown races. He only receives 2lb from Sandman and Sovereignty, meets Hill Road off level terms and actually concedes weight to Baeza.
The Jim Dandy Stakes in 2025 looks all about one outstanding horse, for all it’s a prep race for the Travers Stakes here next month. Sovereignty must still come through this test, however, and justify confidence from Belmont Stakes betting sites and oddsmakers, who wrongly favored Journalism over him last time.
For those seeking a chink in the armor of the hot favorite, it’s not so much giving weight away to horses he’s beaten before, but whether Sovereignty is so effective over the slightly shorter distance. He didn’t get there in the Florida Derby, crossing the wire in second when last racing over 1,800m.
As with Journalism who gave weight and a beating to familiar foes on the track, Sovereignty has both the class and form to handle this field. An epic third chapter to their rivalry beckons in future.
Jim Dandy Stakes 2025 Post Positions Draw
- Baeza (120lbs)
- Sandman (124lbs)
- Mo Plex (122lbs)
- Hill Road (122lbs)
- Sovereignty (124lbs)
Our Handicapper’s Verdict
After his authoritative display in the Belmont, there’s just no opposing Sovereignty here. Dropping back in distance under a penalty just doesn’t raise sufficient doubts or any real worries. He’s the class act in the line-up and should confirm his Triple Crown runs with Baeza, Hill Road (both here) and Sandman (from Churchill Downs).
Of those, these terms favor Baeza most. There are questions to answer, though, as he didn’t get anywhere near as close to Sovereignty in the Belmont as that prior run in the Kentucky Derby. For Trifecta bettors, the suggestion is Sandman on his Preakness show. Hill Road has the beating of Mo Plex on collateral form, meanwhile.
WATCH: Jim Dandy Stakes 2025 Favorite Sovereignty Beat Baeza, Hill Road in Belmont
