Umberto Rispoli and Journalism after winning the Preakness at historic Pimlico. (Barbara Singer/Past The Wire)
Breeders’ Cup Closer Look
That Journalism has written a fine career in his first 10 starts has definitely not been a surprise to his connections. With a 6-3-1 record and $3,998,880 in earnings, he is a prime-time player in the star-studded Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Saturday at Del Mar.
“He’s the horse who, honestly, from the moment we hung a bridle over his head at Bridlewood Farm as a yearling, going into his 2-year-old season, exuded talent, quality, intelligence, class, and he was one that tipped his cap very early and allowed for us to categorize him as a bona-fide classic-type individual,” said Aron Wellman, president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “Most horses that present themselves that way will break your heart along the way. Thankfully, he’s been a treasure and delivered at every turn and then some.”
Wellman ticked off as series off accomplishments that have taken place in the past 12 months, from winning a graded stakes as a 2-year-old, running a triple digit Beyer speed figure in his first race as a 3-year-old in the San Felipe, winning the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. Following the Derby, he overcame trouble to win the Preakness, then ran second to Sovereignty again in the Belmont Stakes and headed back across the country to win the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in July. In his most recent start, against older horses in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 30, was he was second to Fierceness, the 2023 juvenile champ who he will face again in the $7 million Classic.
“There’s just absolutely no chinks in his armor,” Wellman said. “His three defeats have come at the hands of two horses, Sovereignty, a proven elite individual, and Fierceness, the 2-year-old champion, the Travers winner and now a Grade 1 winner at four. Everybody’s seen his brilliance for three seasons now. Those are his three losses to two horses. Even in defeat, he’s been brilliant and brave.”
For trainer Michael McCarthy, who has handled many top horses in his career, Journalism has been an outstanding individual since he arrived in his barn as a 2-year-old.
“I’ve said this several times for basically the better part of kind of 14 months now that this is kind of the way he’s always been,” McCarthy said. “He seemed to be kind of always hinting that he was just a bit better than everybody else in any type of situation, working in company as a 2-year-old, whether it was schooling at the starting game, things were coming to him easier. He would gallop in company as fast or as slow as you would like, so amenable to whatever a rider was asking him. He was just a very easy read from Day 1.”
Journalism won four consecutive races prior to the Kentucky Derby, where he was a 3-1 favorite. He has never lost two races in a row, but his 3 ¼-length loss to Fierceness in the Pacific Classic was the widest of his career. Since the Pacific Classic, his connections have replaced jockey Umberto Rispoli, who had been up for nine races, with Jose Ortiz. McCarthy noted that the colt was a little farther back early in the Pacific Classic and suggested that he would be closer to the pace in the Classic.
“He’s had races where he’s shown himself to be very tactical in the past,” McCarthy said. “I think we’re going to go ahead and kind of bounce on out of there and put him in a spot where we feel he’s within striking distance, should anyone move at any time. Always in these bigger and better races, it seems like they always go on kind of a half a step slower the opening quarter-mile and opening half-mile. We’ll leave that up to Jose to see how things unfold. But we’ll have a game plan in place, like we always do and see if we can execute that. You can make a case for probably seven or eight horses winning this race here next Saturday.”
