Sovereignty wins 157th running of Belmont Stakes

Sovereignty has won the 2025 Belmont Stakes, which was the 157th running of the event, taking two of the three 2025 Triple Crown events. The horse overcame Journalism, which won the 2025 Preakness Stakes, at the very end to pull away for the victory.

The race took place at Saratoga this year as renovations are still ongoing at Belmont Park. It had plenty on the line entering with the winner of the 2025 Kentucky Derby — Sovereignty — and the winner of the 2025 Preakness Stakes — Journalism — going head-to-head.

Journalism jumped out ahead of the pack with a quarter-mile to go, but there was still plenty of race to go. Sovereignty proved that as it galloped ahead to pull even with Journalism before eventually surpassing its competitor by a wide margin.

Journalism finished in second place while Baeza took third, which was the same finish as the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Junior Alvarado gave credit to Journalism for making it a tight race for him and Sovereignty down the stretch on Saturday.

“Racing, that’s what it’s about,” he said. “It’s about two great horses. They’re matching. That horse run, today, an amazing game for coming back after Preakness and then today. He fought very hard. Didn’t make it any easy for my horse and I just think he was great today.”

Sovereignty had the second-best odds to win the Belmont Stakes entering the race behind Hill Road, which entered at 10-to-1. But Alvarado and his horse were clearly the best at the event, and he reflected afterward on what it meant to take home two Triple Crown events in one year.

“It sounds surreal, to be honest,” Alvarado said. “There was a point in my career maybe five, six years ago where I kind of see everything fading away, to be honest. And here I am. God is amazing and he taught me to keep going and put me on this path. My family is always big supporters, helps me through tough moments in my life.”

More on the Belmont Stakes

Traditionally run on the longest track of the three races, Saratoga is run at the same distance as the Kentucky Derby, changing the landscape of the race just a bit. There is also the factor of fatigue for the horses running multiple legs in a shorter time period than they have ever in their life.

The state of the track often determines which horse can claim an advantage, based on their past experience on each surface. The current weather forecast has rain on the radar, setting up potential for a sloppy track.

On3’s James Fletcher contributed to this report.