John Clay: Godolphin wins its first Kentucky Derby, with a little help from Seattle Slew

John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader on May 3, 2025

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Twelve times Godolphin had attempted to win the Kentucky Derby.

Twelve times Goldophin had failed.

But it wasn’t just the lucky 13 that propelled the global racing outfit to its first Kentucky Derby victory on Saturday when the Godolphin homebred Sovereignty won the 151st running by 1 1/2 lengths on a sloppy track over the favorite Journalism.

John Williams, former manager of Spendthrift Farm, and a friend of Michael Banahan, had given Godolphin’s racing manager a wolf tooth from 1977 Kentucky Derby winner Seattle Slew, only Banahan had never worn it. That was until Saturday, when Banahan pinned it to the inside of his sports jacket.

“I had it in a box in the house,” Banahan said. “I said, ‘I gotta bring that today.’ Maybe that was a good omen. Maybe that was a good luck charm for today.”

Saturday was the capper on what was a perfect weekend for Godolphin, which saw its undefeated filly Good Cheer win the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs for trainer Brad Cox on Friday.

Earlier Saturday, Godolphin’s Ruling Court won the 2000 Guineas for trainer Charlie Appleby at Newmarket in England.

It was the Kentucky Derby that had proved elusive for Godolphin and its founder Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Starting with Worldly Manner, it had run a dozen horses in America’s most famous race with only one hitting the board — Essential Quality finishing third for trainer Brad Cox in 2021.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Banahan said Saturday. “We had a few good chances in the past. To be able to win the Kentucky Oaks yesterday and top it off with the Kentucky Derby today, I think they told me it hasn’t been done in 60 or 70 years.”

This was the first Derby that the organization had run a Kentucky Derby horse with Bill Mott, the 71-year-old Hall of Fame trainer who won the 2019 Kentucky Derby when Country House was elevated from second place when Maximum Security was taken down for an in-race infraction.

“I’ve had quite a long relationship with the Godolphin team and the man behind the team,” Mott said. “I’m thrilled and honored. I think a lot of us, not only myself, but a lot of us, owe him a lot for keeping going and the breeding operation that they have. They’re team players and they let you be part of the team.”

“Bill said to me two weeks ago, after (Sovereignty’s) second work, that this was a serious racehorse,” Banahan said. “To have a Hall of Fame trainer like Bill Mott tell you that will instill an awful lot of confidence because he doesn’t come out with terms like that too often.”

Out of the dam Crowned, by Bernardini, Sovereignty is the son of Into Mischief, a leading sire who has now produced three Kentucky Derby winners in the past six years — Authentic in 2020, Mandaloun in 2021 and now Sovereignty.

“We probably had a rough start trying to figure out what mares we need to send because we saw everyone else having tremendous success with him and we couldn’t get a winner by him,” Banahan said of Into Mischief, who has a $250,000 stud fee at Spendthrift Farm. “But eventually we got there with Pretty Mischievious two years ago in the Oaks. ... He has a great speed influence, and if he gets the right mares, he can produce classic horses as well.”

Godolphin has won over 5,000 races worldwide for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. Among its top runners are Thunder Snow, Reel’s Romance, Mystic Guide, Benbatl, African Story and Monterosso. All earned over $7 million in winnings. Thunder Snow earned over $15 million.

As for the Preakness in two weeks, Banahan said he would leave that up to Mott.

“He’s in the Hall of Fame for a lot of good reasons,” he said. “We’ll see how he comes out of the race. He ran really hard today and especially when you have a closer from off the pace like that, they lay their body on the line a little bit. So we’ll see how he comes out.

“I don’t want to jump straight away. We’ve enjoyed today. Today was the goal.”

And as for the that Seattle Slew wolf tooth?

“I’ll wear it the next day,” Banahan said.

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