Title: "Journalism Eyes Rematch with Sovereignty at Belmont Stakes Following Preakness Victory"
Photo: Jason Moran / Eclipse Sportswire
Journalism, a brave winner of Saturday’s Preakness at Pimlico, is under consideration for a potential rematch with Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty in the $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga.
A loaded renewal of the Belmont has the potential to include a number of the division’s brightest stars. Sovereignty, Journalism, and potentially Gosger are set to face a possible field shaping up to feature Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Baeza, Peter Pan (G3) winner Hill Road, Preakness fifth-place finisher Heart of Honor, and Wood Memorial (G2) victor Rodriguez.
Peter Pan runner-up McAfee, another possible candidate, is not nominated for the Triple Crown and would have to be supplemented for a fee of $50,000.
With the ongoing construction of the new Belmont Park, this year’s Belmont Stakes will be contested at 1 1/4 miles rather than the traditional 1 1/2 miles due to the configuration of Saratoga’s main track.
The five-day Belmont Stakes racing festival will be conducted at Saratoga from June 4 through 8. It will include 27 stakes races with purses totaling $11.275 million, the richest races and most stakes offered since the launch of the festival in 2014.
Journalism, trained by Michael McCarthy for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Bob LaPenta, Elayne Stables 5, and the Coolmore group Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, landed a 1 1/2-length second as the mutuel favorite two weeks ago to Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Sovereignty in the Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown at Churchill Downs.
At the end of a bumpy and thrilling rally down the stretch to win the Preakness, Journalism covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.47 and earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners will look to win its second Belmont Stakes after scoring in 2017 with Tapwrit, who was owned in partnership with Bridlewood and LaPenta. Journalism, an $825,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale, is to ship to Saratoga early this week with an eye toward evening the score with Sovereignty in the Belmont.
"We have the utmost respect for Sovereignty. He beat us on the square in the Kentucky Derby,” Wellman said. “As much as we would love to square off again with Sovereignty, it doesn’t factor into our ultimate determination of whether Journalism runs in the Belmont or not. We would like to be in position to run in the Belmont, but it will all be contingent on Journalism and what signs he’s showing us and Michael McCarthy. It will totally be deferred to Michael McCarthy on whether or not he feels comfortable coming back on another three-week turnaround.
“It’s never lost upon us that we want to be good ambassadors for the sport. We think we gave the people what they wanted yesterday with a memorable Preakness, one for the ages, and if we’re fortunate to be in position to consider the Belmont Stakes in three weeks’ time, we’ll certainly take that challenge. We’ll have a fresh Sovereignty to face and also Baeza and maybe a few new shooters as well that really speak to the depth and quality of this 3-year-old class.”
Sovereignty, after his connections opted to skip the Preakness and train up to the Belmont Stakes, worked an easy half-mile in 49.76 seconds over the Oklahoma training track in front of a handful of onlookers Saturday morning at Saratoga.
“He went well, nice,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “He had good energy and was willing to do more.”
Gosger’s trainer Brendan Walsh said Sunday morning he was proud of the effort from Gosger to finish second in the Preakness, but his Belmont Stakes plans remain undecided.
“We were obviously disappointed to not win, getting so close, but not disappointed in the horse,” Walsh said. “He ran a very good race. I think he is still improving. I don’t know about the Belmont yet. I’m going to give it a few days and talk to the owners to try to come to a decision pretty soon. I’m not sure which way we are going right now. He seems fine. We just shipped him back to Louisville today. We’ll see how it all goes and come to a decision within the next few days.”
Sandman, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said via text message that Preakness third-place finisher Sandman has shipped to Belmont Park and likely will target the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy (G2) on July 26 at Saratoga.
