Keeping It In The Family: Belmont Stakes

For the second straight year viewers will get a chance to see both the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) winners face off in the Belmont Stakes (G1) with Sovereignty and Journalism two of the eight runners in this Saturday’s race.

Without farther ado, let’s dig into the field of the final leg of this year’s U.S. Triple Crown.

States Bred

This race may be held in upstate New York, but the Kentucky breeding program has a stranglehold on the entries.

Seven of the eight entries were bred in Kentucky. The only non-Kentucky bred was bred in England but is by a Kentucky stallion in Lane’s End’s Honor AP.

In all, of the 30 different runners in this year’s Triple Crown races, 27 were bred in Kentucky. The others hailed from New York, Japan, Florida, and England.

Birthdays

February continues to lead the charge on birthdays this race with three of the runners born in that month. April and May tie for second at two each with Uncaged the only March birthday. Journalism is the oldest in the field with a February 6 birthday while Rodriguez recently celebrated his birthday on May 20.

Not surprisingly after leading the count in every Triple Crown race, February is the leader when looking at the 30 Triple Crown race runners’ birthdays. Clever Again and East Avenue are the two oldest runners of the series when sharing a February 2 birthday.

One may expect March to have the second most birthdays, but that honor goes to April with eight. March ranks in third with six and not surprisingly, May in last with five. However, it is worth noting that May is at a disadvantage since less mares are bred in late May and June. So that needs to be considered when determining if May has the least runners due to immaturity of runners or just lack of opportunity with foaling numbers.

Sales

Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty is the only homebred in this race with breeder Godolphin never sending him through the ring. Two of the entries went through the ring as weanlings with Crudo bringing $350,000 at Keeneland November and Heart Of Honor selling for 35,000gns ($44,299) at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

SOVEREIGNTY RULES THE 151st KENTUCKY DERBY! 🌹 #KyDerby pic.twitter.com/WfLBrG4Zv4

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 3, 2025

Heart Of Honor also sold as a yearling and then as a 2-year-old when getting more expensive each time. He was the only horse to go through the ring three times. Crudo went through twice and RNA as a yearling when bringing $520,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga.

Everyone but Sovereignty visited the ring as a yearling with six selling. Those six averaged $559,082 with a $467,500 median. The regally-bred Baeza led those prices when sold for $1.2 million at Keeneland September after his half-brother Mage won the Kentucky Derby. That Keeneland sale has the most graduates of any sale with four of the seven who sold selling in September. Fasig-Tipton Saratoga also has two graduates with Heart of Honor selling at Goffs Orby.

Heart of Honor was the only 2-year-old sales graduate.

Twenty-four of this year’s Triple Crown race runners were sold at least once with 22 offered as yearlings (and 21 sold). Six were sold as weanlings or short yearlings and three were sold as 2-year-olds. Luxor Café never went through the ring, but he was sold privately as well.

The average yearling sales price for a Triple Crown race runner was $381,142 and the median was $350,000. Six of those 21 yearlings brought under $100,000 with nine of the six-figure yearlings bringing under $500,000 and six bringing $500,000 or more. The least expensive was the $2,500 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale graduate Chunk of Gold and most expensive was the $1.2 million Baeza.

Breeders & Consignors

Just like the Preakness Stakes, no breeder has more than one runner in the Belmont Stakes. The seven sold were also all offered by different consignors at their sales.

Coolmore leads all breeders by number of Triple Crown runners this year with three – Clever Again, Crudo, and Luxor Café (bred with Westerberg). Close behind them with two apiece are Brereton C. Jones, Godolphin, and WinStar. Overall, 26 different breeders/breeding partnership bred a Triple Crown race runner in 2025.

Twenty-four different consignors have bragging rights when it comes to marketing that they have Triple Crown race runners. Hunter Valley offered three different runners (Crudo, Tiztastic, and Flying Mohawk) to lead all consignors. Airdrie (Chunk of Gold and Publisher), Denali (Tiztastic and Jounalism), Taylor Made (Owen Almighty and Citizen Bull), and Warrendale (Pay Billy and Uncaged) all offered two each.

Sires

Curlin and the Triple Crown go together nearly every year and 2025 is no different. The stallion is the only stallion in this race with two runners (Journalism and Uncaged). He is also the oldest stallion at 21.

“A REMARKABLE RECOVERY BY JOURNALISM!”

JOURNALISM WINS THE 150TH PREAKNESS STAKES! #Preakness150 pic.twitter.com/f2IOVEyUy9

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 17, 2025

There are three first crop sires in this race with Authentic (Rodriguez), Honor A.P. (Heart of Honor) and McKinzie (Baeza) all having a runner. Authentic also helps Into Mischief have a distinct honor – that of having both a runner in the race (Sovereignty) and a son with a runner in the race. The late Scat Daddy is also the grandsire of a runner (Crudo) and damsire (Heart of Honor) of another runner as well.

Twenty-three stallions have sired at least one Triple Crown race runner this year. On the 10-year anniversary of his Triple Crown win, American Pharoah leads the charge with three runners (Publisher, Clever Again, and Luxor Café) with Curlin (Journalism, Grande, and Uncaged) joining him at the top. Into Mischief had two (Citizen Bull and Sovereignty) alongside Justify (American Promise and Crudio), and Not This Time (Goal Oriented and Final Gambit).

No broodmare sire has more than one runner in the Belmont Stakes but Tapit does have most runners in the overall Triple Crown series with four (American Promise, Final Gambit, Gosger, and Tiztastic). No one else has more than two runners with Distorted Humor (Citizen Bull and Sandman) and Scat Daddy (Heart of Honor and Burnham Square) in that group.

Doubling Up

Half of the Belmont Stakes field has run in at least one other Triple Crown race this year.

Preakness Stakes winner Journalism will be the only one to run in all three races when he enters the starting gate on Saturday with a win in the Preakness and a second in the Kentucky Derby. Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby and Baeza looks to become Puca’s third classic winner in as many years for the second time after finishing third in the Kentucky Derby. British invader Heart of Honor also stayed in the U.S. for his second Triple Crown race after finishing fifth in the Preakness.

The Peter Pan is the local prep for the Belmont and it did its job well with both Hill Road and Uncaged entered in the Belmont.

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