Journalism roars back from disastrous start to win San Diego Handicap at Del Mar
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- Heavy favorite Journalism overcame a disastrous start in the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, trailing by several lengths before powering outside late to score a victory.
- The 4-year-old son of Curlin snapped a yearlong winless stretch, earning $180,000 for his seventh victory in 14 starts and pushing lifetime earnings to $4.77 million.
DEL MAR — Umberto Rispoli waited nearly 11 months to ride Journalism again and then, well, let track announcer Larry Collmus describe it:
“They’re off in the San Diego Handicap, and Journalism brushed the gate just as it opened and he’s left behind the field. Journalism has been left behind about five lengths. ... A disastrous start for the big favorite Journalism.”
“I won’t tell you the swear [word] that I throw out there,” Rispoli said.
“It just kind of took the starch out of everything,” said Aron Wellman, managing partner of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, co-owner of the 4-year-old colt.
Fortunately for Rispoli, Wellman and anyone else associated with Journalism, including the fans who bet him down to 1-5 odds Saturday at Del Mar Racetrack, this story ended much happier than it began.
Rispoli patiently guided Journalism back into close contact with the other four horses in the 1-1/16-mile race, swung him outside entering the stretch, and the son of Curlin cruised to a victory — his first since the same Saturday a year ago in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, also under Rispoli.
In the ensuing 12 months, Journalism started four times and finished second, third or fourth. He didn’t run poorly in any of the races; in fact, of the seven horses who beat him, five were Breeders’ Cup winners and a sixth won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.
But when your résumé includes not only the Haskell but also the Santa Anita Derby and Preakness, sometimes close isn’t good enough.
“Frustrating for sure,” Wellman said earlier in the week.
The San Diego Handicap presented the weakest field Journalism had faced since at least the 2025 Preakness, and his task seemed to get easier when Full Serrano, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner here in 2024, was withdrawn Saturday morning because of recurring foot problems.
But as Rispoli noted, “You can’t go in a race and think of course he’s [1-5]. You have to respect everybody in the field. Because you see, everything can happen in horse racing.”
Including your horse starting to move forward just before the gate opens, then hitting the side of the stall and spotting the field several lengths.
“I was concerned [with] the bad start, obviously,” Rispoli said. “But it wasn’t the first time I was in that situation. I know what I have underneath myself. I know what he’s capable of.”
The official margin was three-quarters of a length over the California-bred Shea Brennan, who was the longest shot in the short field at 23-1. The final time was 1 minute 42.65 seconds, and Journalism, who paid $2.40 for his seventh win in 14 starts, earned $180,000 to push his career total to $4.77 million.
“Umberto did a good job of getting him to recover, and his class won out,” winning trainer Michael McCarthy said.
And, given what Rispoli has been through, maybe Saturday was supposed to be difficult. The Italian jockey only recently resumed riding a few weeks ago after missing five months because of a fall in January at Gulfstream Park in Florida. He sustained a fractured right fibula and tibia, a displaced ankle and torn ligaments.
“I was in severe pain,” Rispoli said of his rehabilitation, which included time spent at a specialist in Spain. “The first two weeks [in Spain], I said to myself, this is gonna be hard to do it. You know, I’m almost 38, first time a very hard accident happened to me. It was really bad.
“But this is what gave me the strength, horse racing. And I know I have a job incomplete ... so I have to come back for this guy.”
The next logical step for Journalism would be a race in which he finished second last year, the $1-million Pacific Classic. But McCarthy said Sunday he wasn’t ready to commit his colt to the Aug. 22 race at Del Mar.
One horse who is committed to the Pacific Classic is Nysos, who last year won the San Diego Handicap and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar. Trainer Bob Baffert said the 5-year-old, who beat Journalism in last month’s Met Mile at Saratoga in New York, would make his first start at 1¼ miles in the Pacific Classic.
