Knightsbridge romps in Mr. Prospector; Sovereignty to race on

Saturday’s $150,000 Mr. Prospector (G3) at Gulfstream Park turned out to be a breaking news generator. First came the scratch of morning-line favorite White Abarrio, then the breakthrough victory by odds-on Knightsbridge, and ultimately the announcement that reigning Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sovereignty would rejoin Bill Mott for a 2026 campaign.

Ironically, both Sovereignty and White Abarrio had been high-profile withdrawals from the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup, but the circumstances were dramatically different. Sovereignty developed a fever following his trek to Del Mar and scratched days in advance of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). 

In contrast, White Abarrio was parading to the gate for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) when he was a last-minute veterinary scratch. The Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee has regrouped to aim for a title defense in the Jan. 24 Pegasus World Cup (G1). The tentative idea was to use the Mr. Prospector as his springboard, until co-owner Mark Cornett of C2 Racing Stable announced that he’d skip the prep and go straight to the Pegasus.

That left Knightsbridge, who appeared to be White Abarrio’s chief opponent, as the lopsided choice. The lightly-raced four-year-old shares the same connections as Sovereignty, as a Godolphin homebred trained by Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado. 

Thus Knightsbridge’s success on Saturday presented the perfect opportunity for Godolphin’s Michael Banahan to give an update on Sovereignty, to the delight of racing fans. The presumptive champion three-year-old male is stabled at Keeneland, where he is currently up to galloping. Plans call for him to ship to Mott’s barn at Payson Park shortly after the turn of the new year, with his comeback spot to be determined. 

Knightsbridge, by 2016 Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist, briefly sparked Derby dreams early on in his career. A 10 1/2-length debut winner at Churchill Downs as a juvenile, he wasn’t seen again until late March of his sophomore season, when romping in an allowance around Gulfstream’s one-turn mile. 

That was intended to set Knightsbridge up for the Pat Day Mile (G2) on 2024 Derby Day, only for him to incur a setback. He resurfaced nearly seven months later, in last fall’s Perryville (G3) at Keeneland, with a dead-heat third. 

Going into the Mr. Prospector, Knightsbridge had made only two starts in 2025, nine months apart. But his Nov. 22 allowance score at Aqueduct hinted that he’d turned the corner with the addition of blinkers, and he followed up here. 

With the scratch of the rail-drawn White Abarrio, Knightsbridge inherited not only favoritism, but the inside post. The 1-5 choice took control right from the start and dictated an opening quarter in :22.80. 

Wound Up, who went off as the 6.90-1 second choice after picking up Irad Ortiz Jr. from White Abarrio, tried to press through a half in :45.83. Super Chow, stacked wider out, also joined the fray by that point.

Yet Knightsbridge smoothly drew away from them at the top of the lane. The dark bay widened his margin to 4 3/4 lengths while completing seven furlongs in 1:22.32.

Super Chow kept on gamely to finish a clear second, the same margin ahead of Wound Up. Next came Great Navigator, Playmea Tune, Hold My Bourbon, and the eased Lethal Speed.

Knightsbridge’s first stakes laurel advanced his record to 6-4-1-1, $289,545. 

“He broke very sharp today,” Alvarado recapped, “and he was cruising along pretty good for himself. I wasn’t going to take it away. He just traveled all the way pretty nice and turning for home, I checked my reins a little bit just to see where he was, and he leveled off at the end.

“He did what he needed to do today. It was a good prep race for whatever is coming ahead.”

Knightsbridge is likely to follow the path of his half-brother, Speaker’s Corner, who turned the Fred W. Hooper (G3)/Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) double in 2022. 

“I think that’s what we’re shooting for,” Mott said of the Fred W. Hooper on the Pegasus undercard Jan. 24. “There are also two stakes going a mile here we’d be interested in, and I think Speaker’s Corner won them both.”

Speaker’s Corner made it a hat trick in the Carter H. (G1), and Knightsbridge might be able to make their dam, the Bernardini mare Tyburn Brook, a multiple Grade 1 producer. Tyburn Brook is herself a half to Grade/Group 1 heroes Highland Falls and Long River, all out of 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) victress Round Pond. 

The key is keeping Knightsbridge healthy so that he can develop his raw talent.

“It’s happened a couple times with him,” Mott said of going to the sidelines. “Hopefully, now, he’s got everything in order. He’s solid. He appears to have come back solid. We’ve been able to run back here in four or five weeks, whatever it was. Hopefully we can move forward from here.”