Sovereignty came out of the 18th gate and went off with the fourth-best odds at 7-1, according to NBC, as the race started. Journalism, which came in as the favorite, placed second with Baeza rounding out the top three.

The 2025 Derby was won by a true closer in Sovereignty, but the race had an influx of early pace courtesy of Bob Baffert’s Citizen Bull, who set the opening quarter-mile in 22.81 seconds and the opening half-mile in 46.23 seconds. t was 1:10.78 for the first three-fourths of a mile.