NEW YORK: Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not run in the Preakness Stakes, officials announced Tuesday, meaning there won’t be a Triple Crown champion for a seventh consecutive year.

“We received a call today from trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not be competing in the Preakness,” said Mike Rogers, executive VP of 1/ST Racing, which operates the Preakness. “We extend our congratulations to the connections of Sovereignty and respect their decision.”

Mott told Preakness officials the plan will be to enter Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the Triple Crown, on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York. Mott on Sunday morning had foreshadowed skipping the Preakness in the name of long-term interests.

“We want to do what’s best for the horse,” he told reporters at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. “Of course, you always think about a Triple Crown, and that’s not something we’re not going to think about.”

Sovereignty won a muddy Derby with jockey Junior Alvarado at odds of 7-1 by passing favorite Journalism down the stretch.

Owner Godolphin’s US director of bloodstock, Michael Banahan, deferred an explanation to Mott in a text message sent to The Associated Press, calling it a team decision that “both feel it’s the right direction for the horse going forward.” A message left for Mott was not immediately returned.

This is the fifth time since Justify won all three races in 2018 that the Preakness will go on without a true shot at a Triple Crown. Elevated winner Country House and Maximum Security, who was disqualified for interference, each did not participate in 2019, the races were run out of order in 2020, Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit was DQ’d for a positive drug test in 2021 and long shot Rich Strike was held out in 2022 to rest him for the previously planned five weeks.

Mage finished third in the Preakness in 2023, and Mystik Dan was second last year after his owner and trainer also were initially reluctant to run him. The two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness and changes in modern racing have sparked debate around the sport about spacing out the races.

Prominent owner Mike Repole earlier Tuesday posted on social media a proposal to move the Belmont to second in the Triple Crown order, four weeks after the Kentucky Derby and sliding the Preakness back further with the aim of keeping more of the top horses involved.

“The Preakness being run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, in this new day and age in racing, shows the lack of vision and leadership needed to evolve this sport,” Repole wrote. “I expect the top three finishers of this year’s Derby to skip the Preakness and go right to the Belmont.”

No decision has been made on second-place finisher Journalism, who was the Derby favorite, or third-place Baeza for the 150th running of the Preakness, the last at Pimlico Race Course before it is knocked down and rebuilt. The plan is for the 2026 Preakness to take place at Laurel Park between Baltimore and Washington while Pimlico is under construction.

MILAN: Inter Milan beat Barcelona 4-3 after extra time in another rollercoaster encounter Tuesday to reach a second Champions League final in three years.
In the end it took extra time, two astonishing Barcelona fightbacks and 13 goals — some of them mesmerizing — to separate the two sides and see Inter prevail 7-6 on aggregate.
Substitute Davide Frattesi was the extra-time hero for Inter, firing home in the 99th minute to leave the Barcelona players slumped to the ground and all his Nerazzurri teammates — including those on the bench — racing to celebrate with him.
Moments earlier, Frattesi had been encouraging the already loud San Siro crowd to make more noise and the atmosphere grew even more feverish after his strike.
Inter, which lost the final to Manchester City in 2023, will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich on May 31. PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in London last week in their first match.
There was little sign of the drama to come at halftime, with Inter comfortably leading 2-0 after Lautaro Martínez scored and earned a penalty, which was converted by Hakan Çalhanoğlu.
But Barcelona had been in that position before, having gone 2-0 down early in the first leg last week before securing a thrilling 3-3 draw.
And Eric García scored nine minutes after the break before Dani Olmo headed in the equalizer six minutes later.
Raphina appeared to have secured the win for Barcelona when he put the Spanish side ahead two minutes before full time, tucking away the rebound after Yann Sommer had saved his initial shot.
However, 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi astonishingly leveled in stoppage time — with his first goal in European competition — to add another 30 minutes onto the tantalizing encounter.
Frattesi had proved crucial off the substitutes’ bench before, both for Italy and Inter, and so he was again, controlling Mehdi Taremi’s pass and dummying round Pau Cubarsí before curling past Wojciech Szczęsny.
Barcelona almost leveled again but Sommer made a fingertip save to push Lamine Yamal’s shot past his post.