Watch: Godolphin star Sovereignty tees up Breeders' Cup Classic bid with dazzling ten-length Travers win

Sovereignty reinforced his position as the top three-year-old in the US with a sublime victory in the Travers Stakes on Saturday evening. 

The Godolphin colt was sent off long odds-on against just four rivals to notch his third Grade 1 success and poured on the style at Saratoga, registering a fourth straight win with yet another impressive effort under Junior Alvarado. 

Iowa Derby winner Magnitude, the ride of Ben Curtis, led for much of the race but was headed by Bracket Buster in the final two and a half furlongs, but the Listed winner could not hold on to the lead for long as Sovereignty swung off the home bend in second before sweeping clear to score by ten lengths. 

It was the biggest winning margin of Sovereignty's career and a sign of his dominance in the Classic generation, having already triumphed in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes this year.

He became the first horse since Thunder Gulch in 1995 to complete the Grade 1 treble and provided New York-based trainer Bill Mott with his first win in the Travers Stakes at the 14th attempt.

Alvarado, who was also enjoying his first win in the race, told Bloodhorse: "When I turned for home, I kind of knew where I was standing with him. When I asked him, he went on very beautifully.

"This is the horse of a lifetime. All my big wins come from him. I can't give thanks enough to Godolphin and Bill for keeping their trust in me and letting me ride these beautiful horses."

Sovereignty remains the only horse to have defeated the Michael McCarthy-trained Preakness and Haskell winner Journalism – getting the better of him in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont – but a tantalising showdown could happen on November 1, should the pair reunite for a showstopping clash in the Breeders' Cup Classic. 

"The Travers was the midsummer goal for us, and achieving what he did today, the next logical spot to turn up is the Breeders' Cup Classic," said Michael Banahan, Godolphin's director of bloodstock. "As long as he's doing as well as Bill wants, that's where we'll end up." 

Last year's Travers was won by Fierceness, who edged out Thorpedo Anna by a head, but the filly was successful on Saturday in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes under Brian Hernandez Jr, coming out on top in another close battle by a nose from Dorth Vader. 

The four-year-old already has a Breeders' Cup win to her name after landing the Distaff last year and notched her seventh top-level win in Saratoga's 1m1f contest, one of five Grade 1 races on the card. 

The Brad Cox-trained Patch Adams landed his second Grade 1 at the venue when taking the H Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes before Hope Road emulated her dam Marley's Freedom by winning the Ballerina Stakes for Bob Baffert. 

Book'em Danno also maintained his impressive course record when landing the Forego Stakes, his third win on the bounce at Saratoga following victories in the True North Stakes and Alfred G Vanderbilt Handicap this summer.

Breeders' Cup Classic (Del Mar, November 1)
bet365: 7-4 Sovereignty, 11-2 Sierra Leone, 15-2 Journalism, 10 Mindframe, 12 Forever Young, Nysos, 16 Fierceness, 20 bar.

Read more:

Watch: Journalism produces stunning late surge to land Haskell Stakes in dramatic fashion 

Secretariat's Triple Crown-winning jockey Ron Turcotte dies aged 84 

'She was just beaten by a very good filly' - Charlie Appleby denied in Canada as She Feels Pretty claims more Grade 1 riches 

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