How Secretariat is related to Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty

Billy Heyen

How Secretariat is related to Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty image

Secretariat was going to win Saturday's Kentucky Derby no matter what.

Every horse in the field is a descendant of the horse-racing GOAT.

That includes Sovereignty, who showed great come-from-behind speed to win on the messy track at Churchill Downs.

Sovereignty is a fifth-generation descendant of Secretariat.

MORE: How Secretariat is related to every horse from 2025 Kentucky Derby

He also can claim as ancestors two of the other greatest race horses ever, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.

Sovereignty is the son of Into Mischief and Crowned. Into Mischief raced six times in his career, with three wins and three places. His mother never raced.

The great-grandsire of Sovereignty is Bernardini, who won the 2006 Preakness.

Other pieces of Sovereignty's pedigree, according to the Louisville Courier Journal:

  • Spectacular Bird
  • A.P. Indy
  • Unbridled
  • Storm Cat

Not a bad group to draw genes from.

MORE: Why Secretariat's records have never been broken

Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle