DEL MAR — Journalism isn’t quite the best horse in North America so far this year, but he is the most entertaining. His wins are come-from-behind thrillers. His losses are come-from-ahead heartbreakers.
After taking his show on the road for most of the spring and summer, 3-year-old Journalism brings it home to California to run in the $1 million, Grade I Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar, vying for the starring role with 4-year-olds Nysos and Fierceness in a field of eight.
It’s a new chapter in the colt’s story as he faces older horses for the first time and attention shifts to getting ready for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, to be run Nov. 1 at the same Del Mar track and 1¼-mile distance as the Pacific Classic.
“The first half (of the year) was focused on the classics, and now the second half is focused on the Classic,” said Aron Wellman, president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, head of Journalism’s ownership group.
By “classics,” Wellman means the Triple Crown races, in which Journalism and jockey Umberto Rispoli won the Preakness in a rough-and-tumble rally and led but wound up second to top-ranked American horse Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
By “Classic,” the owner means the Breeders’ Cup Classic, in which Journalism could have a shot at overtaking Sovereignty for the 3-year-old championship and maybe the Horse of the Year title depending on what else happens between now and then.
Winning the Pacific Classic is crucial to those championship hopes.
Journalism will be the first elite member of the 2025 sophomore class to take on elders. A victory against the likes of Nysos and Fierceness would be a distinguishing achievement for the 3-year-old. It also would confirm handicappers’ flattering assessment of this group of 3-year-olds; Sovereignty is No. 1 in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s weekly media poll, the first 3-year-old to top those rankings in late August since Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015.
And it would add to the lore of 3-year-olds in the Pacific Classic, which is for 3-year-olds and up. Nineteen 3-year-olds have run in the race, and six have won: Best Pal in the first Pacific Classic in 1991, General Challenge in 1999, Came Home in 2002, Dullahan in 2012, Shared Belief in 2014 and Arabian Knight in 2023.
After bringing Journalism back to California following his dramatic late surge to victory in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey in July, Wellman and trainer Michael McCarthy could have sent him east again for last weekend’s Travers Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga, to try for a third time to beat Sovereignty. Without serious competition, Sovereignty won the Travers by 10 lengths.
Entering the 35th running of the Pacific Classic, the marquee race of Del Mar’s summer season, made more sense. This is where Journalism scored the first of his six victories in a nine-race career in November.
“The fact that we (could) play a home game for the first time in several months, (in a race) that allowed for an additional week of spacing after the Haskell, on a track that he broke his maiden over as a 2-year-old, that is his summer home training base, where the Breeders’ Cup Classic will be run, just struck us as more enticing than having to put him on a plan to travel cross-country again,” Wellman said.
Wellman said Journalism has sent all the right signals since resuming workouts at Del Mar in early August.
“He’s looking for a fight right now, and he’s certainly going to get it. He’s going to have to step up his game in order to not just compete but beat the older heavyweights,” said Wellman, whose horse receives a six-pound break in the weight assignments because of the age difference.
This is an unusually strong Pacific Classic, featuring horses ranked fourth (Journalism), fifth (Nysos) and seventh (Fierceness) in the Longines-sponsored rankings of contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Nysos is favored slightly over Journalism in morning-line odds for the field that looks like this from the rail out: 1. Fierceness (John Velazquez riding), 124 pounds, 3-1 odds; 2. Midnight Mammoth (Armando Ayuso), 124, 12-1; 3. Ultimate Gamble (Kazushi Kimura), 124, 20-1; 4. Nysos (Flavien Prat), 124, 8-5; 5. Indispensable (Paco Lopez), 124, 15-1; 6. Journalism, 118, 9-5; Lure Him In (Hector Berrios), 124, 20-1, and Tarantino (Edwin Maldonado), 124, 20-1.
Nysos, trained by seven-time Pacific Classic winner Bob Baffert, seeks his sixth victory in seven career starts but is trying 1¼ miles for the first time after warming up for this by winning the 1-1/16-mile San Diego Handicap. Fierceness, sent from New York, is a former 2-year-old champion and the 2024 Travers winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up at Del Mar but is on his first two-race losing streak.
Tactically, look for Fierceness and Velazquez to seek the lead in the first run through the homestretch to avoid traffic from their inside post, and for pressure to come from Midnight Mammoth, Ultimate Gamble, Lure Him In or Tarantino. Both Nysos and Journalism can sit in mid-pack and engage the leaders turning into the stretch the second time.
Baffert said he’s confident Nysos will handle any pace.
“He’s not one-dimensional. He has speed, he can go to the lead, (or) he can lay second, third, fourth,” Baffert said. “I don’t have to worry about that with him.”
Wellman said that’s all part of Journalism’s challenge.
“It’s not going to be easy to run down the likes of Nysos and Fierceness,” Wellman said. “But the one thing we know about Journalism, that we’ve seen time and time again, is that when he has a target in the stretch, there’s not many horses that can hold him off.”
The Pacific Classic is scheduled for 6:11 p.m. as the 10th race on an 11-race card that begins at 1:30.
The undercard is attractive too, highlighted by Gold Phoenix running in the $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Handicap (race 11) with a chance to become the first horse to win the same Del Mar stakes race four years in a row.
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