Journalism after winning the Preakness | Horsephotos
By Bill Finley
The debate will continue to rage on. Should a horse run back in the GI Preakness, just two weeks after the GI Kentucky Derby, or should they skip the Preakness and wait for the GI Belmont? What’s best for the horse? What’s best for the sport?
This year it was Sovereignty (Into Mischief). He was a comfortable 1 1/2 length winner over Journalism (Curlin) in the Derby. But instead of running back in two weeks, his connections announced that his next start will be in the June 7 Belmont. He is owned by one of the most successful stables in the world and trainer Bill Mott is among the very best in his business. They believe that giving Sovereignty five weeks off coming into the Belmont is the right move, better than coming back in two weeks. These people didn’t get to be where they are today by making mistakes.
But they are going by instinct. In racing, there is no science to guide them towards what is truly the best answer for the horse and for their stables. I’m no mathematician or scientist, but I like to think that I do pretty well when it comes to having common sense. Suppose that running back in two weeks is something that is beyond the capabilities of the modern horse , then shouldn’t the Preakness be dominated by the “fresh horse?”
It’s not. A look at the last ten runnings of the Preakness (I didn’t factor the 2020 Covid Preakness into the equation) gives validity to the argument that running back in two weeks is no big deal.
(*) Since 2015, six horses that ran on Derby day won the Preakness. One of those winners is 2024 Seize The Grey (Arrogate), who didn’t run in the Derby but did start on Derby Day in the GII Pat Day Mile. The top three finishers in that race all were coming back on two weeks of rest.
(*) There have been 75 Preakness starters that last ran in the Derby. All things being equal, those horses had a 12.5% chance of winning.
(*) Since 2016 there have been 85 starters who had more than two weeks’ rest entering the Derby. They won four times. That’s good for a winning percentage of just 4.7%.
Still, they persist. One of the worst Preaknesses in modern times occurred in 2023. Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) was the only Derby starter to run back in the Preakness, and he finished third.
(*) Only 3 three Derby starters ran back in this year’s Preakness and they finished 1-3, with Sandman (Tapit) running third.
The first time by the grandstand in the Kentucky Derby | Coady Media
You have to give credit to trainer Michael McCarthy and to the many owners who have a piece of the horse. After the Derby, they didn’t go back to California and instead stayed at Churchill. They took their time and went over every inch of the horse. Horsemen like to say “We’ll let the horse tell us what to do.” McCarthy saw a healthy horse that didn’t seem to be ill-affected by the Derby and found no reason not to run him. Journalism was telling him to run in the Preakness.
The end result is that they have well-bred, two-time Grade I winner and has already earned $2,680,000 this year alone.
Sometimes people care about nothing other than a horse’s stud value. Not only did the owners get their share of a $2 million horse, they increased his value as a stud considerably.
So many horses passing Triple Crown races is bad for the game and bad for the Triple Crown. I fear the time will come, and come fast, where a Derby winner almost never runs in the Preakness. The Triple Crown has been weakened by this trend and we can’t allow it to get any worse.
In 2024, the Stronach Group threw out a trial balloon saying it wanted to move the Preakness back a couple of weeks. It never went anywhere because NYRA had no intention of moving the date of the Belmont. It seems they haven’t taken account how the current Triple Crown format can hurt the Belmont Stakes With so many horses passing the Preakness, they always get a good field and good crowd. But it’s a lot different when a Triple Crown is on the line.
What they should want more than anything else is to have a horse going for the Triple Crown in the Belmont. When that happens the place goes wild. When the Triple Crown was on the line for Justify (Scat Daddy) in 2018, the attendance was 90,327. In the six Belmont since, the largest attendance was 56,217. If the Derby winner doesn’t run in the Preakness (which is the case this year) NYRA can’t have a Triple Crown winner.
I am on the “Change the Triple Crown bandwagon.” There needs to be at least four weeks between the races.
In the past, it would have been unheard of for a horse who ran well in the Derby not going in the Preakness. In 1948, Citation won the Derby and the Preakness. In that year there were four weeks between the Preakness and Belmont. Trainer Jimmy Jones was apparently worried that there was too much time between races. So, in between the Preakness and the Belmont, he ran Citation in the Jersey Derby at Garden State as a prep for the Belmont. How things have changed.
Credit: Jeff Snyder/MJC
For His Ride on Goal Oriented, Prat Deserves Days
Maybe it was because Goal Oriented (Not This Time) finished fourth or maybe its because many stewards seem afraid to take a horse down in a Triple Crown race. But Flavien Prat’s ride on Goal Oriented deserves a suspension, and maybe a lengthy one. In upper stretch Journalism started to make his run along the rail. He had Goal Oriented on the outside of him and Clever Again (American Pharoah) to his inside. Prat was trying to be aggressive with a horse who was probably out of gas and steered his mount straight into Journalism. He bumped him so hard that jockey Umberto Rispoli couldn’t avoid crashing into Clever Again, who was eased. It’s amazing that Rispoli didn’t go down.
After the bumping incident, it appeared that Journalism was too far behind to catch Gosger (Nyquist), but he flew home inside the final 40 yards and caught him. Things went so badly for Clever Again that he was eased.
The stewards did post an inquiry, but the lights blinked for, what, two minutes? They couldn’t have possibly taken a thorough look at the incident in such a short period of time.
