Two weeks after entering the Kentucky Derby as the favorite only to finish second, Journalism appeared beaten again entering the final straightaway at Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, the middle leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
Once trailing by as many as five lengths, Journalism was still far behind Gosger at the top of the homestretch as it squeezed between Clever Again and Goal Oriented — the horses so close they and their jockeys rubbed together — before finally finding open ground. From there, with jockey Umberto Rispoli urging him on, Journalism ran down Gosger at the post, needing all of the course’s 1 3/16th miles to author a stunning comeback victory at the 150th Preakness at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course.
It was the second Preakness victory for Journalism’s trainer, Michael W. McCarthy, who previously won in 2021 with Rombauer. As the gap between the leader and Journalism widened, McCarthy said he was resigned to a loss.
“My initial thought was, ‘Proud of the horse,’” McCarthy said. “‘Great effort, just gonna come up a little bit short.’”
Except, the race was far from over. Gosger finished second, with Sandman third.
“The horse is a champion,” Aron Wellman, a co-owner of Journalism, said on NBC in the winner’s circle. “Our jockey Umberto Rispoli is a champion. Our trainer Michael McCarthy is a champion.”
Rispoli became the first jockey from Italy to win a Triple Crown race.
“I wish everybody over there are proud of me,” Rispoli said.
Journalism outlasted eight other competitors, a small field that did not include Derby winner Sovereignty, after trainer Bill Mott withdrew the horse due to the short turnaround between races. It marked the third time in the last four years that the Derby winner skipped the Preakness. The Triple Crown, Mott said earlier this month, is “not something we’re not going to think about.”
It was the fifth time in the last seven years that the Preakness started without a true shot at the Triple Crown, a trend that has sparked a debate about whether the two-week turnaround between Triple Crown races has become antiquated.
The field of nine horses was still anticipated as the trainers — including Bob Baffert and his record eight Preakness victories, and D. Wayne Lukas, who has won seven times at Pimlico over 44 years — had amassed a combined 19 previous Preakness victories.
Journalism was still considered the favorite following the Derby and opened with 8-5 odds Saturday morning. By race time, it had become an even bigger favorite at 6-5. Yet its path to victory was made difficult only a quarter of a mile in Saturday, as Clever Again led entering the first turn, followed closely by Gosger and River Thames, with Journalism sixth. Both Rispoli, the jockey, and McCarthy, the trainer, said in post-race interviews they believed their horse was in trouble and might run hard, only to come in second, as at the Derby.
Yet Journalism was in first at the end, right on deadline.
