{"id":84481,"date":"2025-05-08T11:28:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/84481\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T11:28:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:28:24","slug":"whats-been-happening-preakness-no-go-for-sovereignty-new-global-jockeys-league-epsom-derby-latest-and-more-topics-ruling-court-racing-league-seven-days-in-racing-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/84481\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s been happening: Preakness no-go for Sovereignty, new global jockeys\u2019 league, Epsom Derby latest and more \u2026 | Topics: Ruling Court, Racing League, Seven Days in Racing, Kentucky Derby, Derby, Kieran Shoemark, Sovereignty, Heart Of Honor, Churchill Downs, Churchill Downs Inc, Preakness Stakes, John & Thady Gosden, Field Of Gold, Epsom, Epsom Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/Preakness no-go: Sovereignty (blue silks) sloshes through the slop to win the Kentucky Derby. Photo: Coady Media \/ Renee Torbit<\/p>\n

Running plans (or otherwise) for the second leg of the Triple Crown, Kentucky Derby crowd down, Kieran Shoemark\u00a0loses job after 2,000 Guineas \u2013 don\u2019t miss our weekly digest\u00a0of recent international racing news<\/p>\n

Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty to skip Preakness<\/p>\n

\"HeartUSA: <\/strong>There will be no Triple Crown winner in 2026 following news that Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will bypass the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the series at Pimlico on May 17. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Godolphin\u2019s son of Into Mischief is likely to reappear in the Belmont Stakes, held this year at Saratoga on June 7. Sovereignty returned to the track at Churchill Downs on Wednesday [May 7] for morning exercise before going to join Bill Mott\u2019s string at Saratoga. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Derby third Baeza<\/strong> is also headed for the Belmont, but runner-up Journalism<\/strong> remains a possible for the Preakness. Intended runners at Pimlicoinclude Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez<\/strong>, scratched at Churchill Downs with a minor foot bruise, while D Wayne Lukas will bid for his eighth Preakness victory via American Promise<\/strong>, who was 16th in the Derby. British-trained UAE Derby runner-up Heart Of Honor<\/strong> is also on course for the Preakness. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Kentucky Derby: attendance down, betting and TV viewers up<\/p>\n

\"SovereigntyUSA: <\/strong>A rainy day in Louisville probably contributed to a six per cent drop in attendance at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day, where an official crowd figure of 147,406 was down from last year\u2019s 156,710.<\/p>\n

Conversely, all-sources betting handle on Saturday\u2019s 14-race card totalled a record $349 million, easily bettering last year\u2019s figure of $320.5m. A record of $234.5m was bet on the Kentucky Derby alone.<\/p>\n

In their 25th year of Derby coverage, NBC Sports\u00a0 were also claiming a record average for TV viewers at 17.7 million \u2013 marking the largest Kentucky Derby audience since 1989. The peak figure was 21.8m, at just after 7pm when the race took place.<\/p>\n

The record streaming audience of 959,000 was 34% up on the 2024 figure. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Top jockeys sign up to proposed global racing league<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/strong>A dozen of the world\u2019s top jockeys have signed up to join a revolutionary global racing league set to be launched in 2026.<\/p>\n

According to reports, a prize pool of $15 million is in play \u2013 with $5m going to the jockey who comes out on top via a points system after participating in up to ten grand prix-style cards on a franchise basis around the world.<\/p>\n

Among the 12 jockeys involved are James McDonald (above) and Ryan Moore (above right) \u2013 currently world #1 and #2 respectively, Frankie Dettori, William Buick, Japanese legend Yutaka Take and US-based pair Irad Ortiz and Flavien Prat. The squad is completed by Hong Kong record breaker Zac Purton and longtime rival Joao \u2018Magic Man\u2019 Moreira, plus Mickael Barzalona, Christophe Lemaire and Vincent Ho. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Epsom Derby field to be finalised at 72-hour stage<\/p>\n

GB:<\/strong> The Betfred Derby on June 7 at Epsom will become a 72-hour declarations race for the first time in its 245-year history. \u201cWe are confident that this change will not only help build anticipation for the world\u2019s most famous Flat race earlier in the week but also provide more certainty around the runners and riders on the day,\u201d explained Epsom general manager Jim Allen. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

A total of 42 horses stood their ground for the \u00a31.5m Classic at the latest entry stage this week, headed by ante-post favourite The Lion In Winter<\/strong> \u2013 set to make his seasonal debut next week on the Dante Stakes at York \u2013 and Ruling Court<\/strong>, promoted to 4-1 second favourite after winning the 2,000 Guineas at the weekend.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One name that did not appear was the US-trained Maximum Promise<\/strong>, for whom Frankie Dettori had reportedly been lined up.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Coral-Eclipse: <\/strong>Calandagan and Economics head 58 entries for \u00a31m contest\u00a0More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Kieran Shoemark loses Gosden job after Guineas defeat<\/p>\n

\"KieranGB: <\/strong>Beleaguered jockey Kieran Shoemark has carried the can for Field Of Gold<\/strong>\u2019s defeat in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday [May 3] by losing his job as retained rider to the John & Thady Gosden partnership.<\/p>\n

Sent off favourite for Britain\u2019s first Classic of the season, Field Of Gold finished strongly to be beaten only a half-length by Ruling Court. Shoemark admitted he may have been \u201ctoo confident\u201d on the Juddmonte colt. On Wednesday [May 7], the Gosdens revealed that in future they intend to employ the \u201cbest available rider\u201d. More here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 France: <\/strong>Gosdens line up new jockeys for Sunday\u2019s Classic card at Longchamp More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in racing \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"InUSA:<\/strong> Clean bill of health for Thorpedo Anna after Churchill flop More here<\/a><\/p>\n

USA:<\/strong> $3.5m Nashville Derby heads lucrative Kentucky Downs schedule More here<\/a><\/p>\n

USA:<\/strong>\u00a0NYRA puts Brooklyn Stakes on one-year furlough\u00a0More here<\/a><\/p>\n

GB: <\/strong>Lambourn in Epsom picture after Chester Vase More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia:<\/strong>\u00a0Two-race Sydney campaign for world #1 Ka Ying Rising\u00a0More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia: <\/strong>Revealed \u2013 A$800m Warwick Farm revamp plan More here<\/a><\/p>\n

Argentina: <\/strong>Sarawak Rim earns BC Distaff spot in GP Criadores More here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Read previous editions of Seven Days In Racing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses \/<\/a>\u00a0jockeys \/<\/a>\u00a0trainers \/<\/a>\u00a0sires<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Preakness no-go: Sovereignty (blue silks) sloshes through the slop to win the Kentucky Derby. Photo: Coady Media \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-84481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114471980675296134","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}