ARCADIA — He has been many handicappers’ horse of the future, boasting the pedigree and connections to get better as distances increase and the Kentucky Derby trail steepens.
But as he bent into the Santa Anita homestretch Saturday, 3-year-old Journalism turned into the colt of the moment.
The 3-1 second choice of bettors, Journalism and jockey Umberto Rispoli swept up on the outside of 2-5 favorite Barnes, got the lead with 100 yards to go and went on to win by 1¾ lengths in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes.
Adding 37.5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the 10 he’d earned by winning the Los Alamitos Futurity in December, Journalism almost certainly has enough to secure a spot in the May 3 Derby no matter where he finishes in the April 5 Santa Anita Derby.
“It’s a little overwhelming to think where this horse could go,” trainer Michael McCarthy said.
The victory, worth $8.20 per $2 win bet, was part of a huge day for McCarthy and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which is among Journalism’s owners.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners also is the principal owner of Locked, the impressive winner of the $300,000, Grade I Santa Anita Handicap, the afternoon’s main event.
McCarthy ended up winning all three stakes on the Santa Anita Handicap undercard as Formidable Man ($12.20) and Rispoli captured the $300,000, Grade I Frank E. Kilroe Mile and Liguria ($11.40) and Flavien Prat took the $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes.
Journalism, a son of Curlin and the Uncle Mo mare Mopotism who now has three wins in four career starts, hadn’t competed since the 1 1/16-mile Los Alamitos race 77 days earlier and was being trained with the knowledge that the San Felipe was only an early step on the Triple Crown trail.
While saying McCarthy was ready for the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe, McCarthy said the colt wasn’t cranked up all the way.
“I was confident, but I wasn’t overconfident,” said McCarthy, who has pursued the 3-year-old classics before, winning the 2021 Preakness with Rombauer. “I thought he was where he needed to be to run well. “It’s pretty exciting to think where he could go from here if he moves forward (improves) off this race.”
Barnes and Juan Hernandez held second by a distance over Rodriguez and Prat, and Mellencamp and Mike Smith nosed Smooth Cruisein and Ricardo Gonzalez out of fourth to give trainer Bob Baffert the 2-3-4 finishers.
The scratch of Berlin Wall reduced the field to five, so the normal 50 Derby qualifying points for a race at this stage of the season were reduced by 25% to 37.5 for the winner and 18.75, 11.25, 7.5 and 3.75 for the rest.
Rispoli had Journalism as far back as fourth on the backstretch before angling to the outside on the turn for home. Barnes seemed to be cruising on the lead, with Rodriguez laying second. The half-mile time of 47.31 seconds was relatively slow for a race that finished in 1:42.24.
But Barnes, racing beyond 7 furlongs for the first time, couldn’t keep going well enough to hold off Journalism.
“I have no excuses,” Hernandez said. “He (Barnes) was traveling really well. We just got beat by a better horse, I guess.”
Rispoli said the race went perfectly for Journalism.
“Once I took him out (from behind the leaders) and pressed the button, he put on the beast mode,” the jockey said.
A half-hour later, Rispoli rode Formidable Man to a come-from-behind, half-length win over longshot Zio Jo in the Kilroe Mile on turf for 4-year-olds and up, as 4-5 favorite Mi Hermano Ramon got clear late but could only rally for fifth.
The first of McCarthy’s three stakes winners, Liguria, trailed a field of six fillies and mares turning into the stretch and rallied on the rail to edge Tirupati and favorite Rashmi in the Buena Vista Stakes.