There is no doubt about it, Journalism, the horse, is the real deal.
He put an exclamation point on his five-race career with a three-quarters-length win in the Grade 1 $500,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday. Yet it was how he did it that had the Santa Anita crowd of 34,312 buzzing. At the three-eighths pole, the horse in front of him, Westwood, started to slow down, impeding Journalism's progress.
It’s the kind of thing that could keep an average horse, or even a good horse, from rallying to get into the race. No problem for this 3-year-old son of Curlin.
“I think it’s something you need to do,” said trainer Michael McCarthy about the horse’s trip. “Obviously in a five-horse field like he did [Saturday], if he can’t do it against five, then he will have an awfully hard time doing it against 20 [in the Kentucky Derby]. He’s taken some dirt in a couple races now.
“The dirt in Kentucky is a little different than the dirt here. It was good that there were some people here [Saturday]. The horse did everything we could have asked from him.”
Citizen Bull, the reigning 2-year-old champion, had the lead after three-quarters of a mile in the 1 1/8 -mile race, while Journalism was sitting in fifth. But Citizen Bull couldn’t keep up as Baeza went to the front. As the horses came down the stretch, it was clear that Journalism was the best.
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Journalism paid $4 to win and was followed by Baeza, Westwood, Citizen Bull and Barnes.
The race was supposed to be worth 100 points for the winner and 50 points for second, but this year Churchill Downs put in a rule that if the race has only five starters, the points allotment is only 75%, so that the win was worth 75 points and second was 37.5 points.
It’s unclear if Baeza, with 37.5 points, will make the field for the Kentucky Derby. If it had been a six-horse field, he would have gained 50 points and been assured a spot.
It was a disappointing race for the two Bob Baffert horses, Citizen Bull and Barnes. Citizen Bull will have enough points to make the starting gate, while Barnes, a $3.2-million purchase, will be left at home.
“I was discouraged [Citizen Bull] didn’t get the win [Saturday],” Baffert said. “He got tired. He’s a heavy horse. The track was deep. We will figure this out. We have a week and then we will decide what is next. That was a pretty impressive win by Journalism.”
It made no sense for Baffert to run three horses in the Santa Anita Derby, so he sent Rodriguez to the Grade 2 $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in New York. It was certainly the right move as Mike Smith guided the colt to an easy front-running win to give him enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
Breaking from the one, Smith settled ...
