This year’s Belmont Stakes had all the trappings of a true American classic. It offered a rematch between Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty, who willingly bypassed the Preakness Stakes, and Journalism, who was second in the Derby and won the Preakness in Sovereignty’s absence. The prospect of two of the best 3-year-olds we’ve seen in a while squaring off at historic Saratoga had to excite any racing fan.

Going into the race, I had to separate my heart and my head. My heart was frustrated at Sovereignty’s team for passing up a chance at the Triple Crown, so I was ready and eager to cheer against them. However, as a bettor, I knew Sovereignty’s Derby was an impressive performance, and he was likely to once again beat Journalism with extra rest. I told myself I was fully prepared to hate-bet, hate-watch, and hopefully hate-cash.

However, when Sovereignty made his move at the top of the stretch and took the lead, I was unprepared for how I felt. There was no thrill, no joy, no sliver of consolation as he crossed the wire three lengths in front of Journalism.

The only thought I had was that it should have been a Triple Crown-clinching performance.

The way Sovereignty won the Belmont left no doubt that he’s the best 3-year-old in the country. He tracked Journalism and easily outkicked him in the Derby, and the Belmont was a virtual repeat of that effort. He ran 1 ¼ miles in 2:00.69, a champion-worthy time for the distance, and ran the final quarter in approximately 23.69 seconds, a blazing split at the end of a long race.

Had they met in Baltimore three weeks ago, it’s likely that Sovereignty would have made the same type of move and won in the same contemptuously easy manner. Journalism’s traffic trouble at the top of the stretch would have been a mere footnote, recorded in the history books as a hard-luck second.

Sovereignty’s Belmont win, already held in high esteem by racing fans, should have been a moment of ultimate triumph for the sport. Sports fans from all over the country, not just dedicated fans of the game, would have tuned in and seen him secure his place as the 14th Triple Crown winner. We should have been able to celebrate Bill Mott, one of the greatest trainers in the sport, get his moment in the sun and become an immortal among immortals. Horse and trainer both would have been considered more-than-worthy winners of racing’s ultimate prize.

Instead, we were deprived of the celebration and exhilaration, not by some cruel twist of racing fate, but by Godolphin’s and Mott’s sheer apathy for the Triple Crown.

Mott’s comments after the Derby suggested that the Preakness was barely a consideration, and it was little surprise when he announced Sovereignty was bypassing the race and a shot at the Triple Crown. During Preakness week, he seemed to relish telling the media how well the horse was training and how easily he had bounced back in two weeks’ time.

Leading up to the Belmont, the usually classy Mott took a sudden heel turn and glibly dismissed the Middle Jewel and, by extension, the Triple Crown.

“There was no reason physically why we couldn’t have run in the Preakness,” he told the Daily Racing Form. “We had no excuse other than we didn’t feel like it.”

Ostensibly, winning the Triple Crown is the ultimate goal of every breeder, owner, trainer, and jockey. Winning three major races in five weeks takes you out of the realm of the merely great 3-year-olds, and ensures people will remember your name forever. It’s why the highest Belmont Stakes ratings by far are when a Triple Crown is on the line, why the highest-attended Belmonts are for Triple Crown bids. It captures the imagination beyond anything else in the sport. 

Yet, when they planned out Sovereignty’s schedule at the start of the year, a Triple Crown attempt was never on their radar screen, by all accounts. He was always going to be pointed for the Derby, then the Belmont, regardless of how well he did on the first Saturday in May.

Of course, they’re allowed to do what they want with their horse, but it doesn’t mean that the sport isn’t poorer for it. Even those defending Sovereignty’s connections must admit that it would have been a much more exciting performance with a Triple Crown on the line.

At the end of the day, Godolphin and Mott will certainly never publicly admit regret over their decision. Sovereignty will run in the Travers Stakes (though massive crowds won’t show up for his workouts, like they did for American Pharoah), then the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and go to stud with Derby and Belmont wins on his resume.

Yet that resume, as impressive as it is, will always have a crab-sized hole in it, and whenever racing fans think back to his Belmont win, it will be with the near-certainity that it would have been something greater, if not for obstinance.