Pacific Classic: With Journalism out, McCarthy and Rispoli go to plan B with Malarchuk

A month ago, trainer Michael McCarthy and jockey Umberto Rispoli were expected to be at the center of attention in Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar with the star 4-year-old Journalism.

An injury detected after Journalism’s win in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap in July ended his career. Journalism is scheduled to begin a stallion career in Kentucky in 2027.

McCarthy and Rispoli are still a team in the $1 million Pacific Classic with the outsider Malarchuk.

Co-owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam and Erik Johnson, the former NHL player turned television commentator, Malarchuk will have his Grade 1 debut in the Pacific Classic following a second-place finish behind Forged Steel in the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 25.

Forged Steel led throughout the Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles, and won by 9 1/2 lengths. Malarchuk was within a half-length of Forged Steel for the first mile but could not keep pace in the stretch.

The Pacific Classic may unfold in a different manner. Forged Steel is in the lineup and could face early pressure from the Japanese 3-year-old Finger, and Knightsbridge, a three-time Grade 3 stakes winner this year who is expected to be favored.

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“It’s a better race than last time,” McCarthy said. “He’ll get a pace to run into.”

Malarchuk began his career with trainer Chad Brown, winning three times in eight starts on the East Coast. Bought for $525,000 at the Fasig-Tipton digital sale in July 2025, Malarchuk has started twice for McCarthy. On April 5, Malarchuk was second to fellow California shipper Vodka Vodka in the Sunland Park Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in New Mexico.

Since the Gold Cup, Malarchuk has had seven workouts at the San Luis Rey Downs training center and at Del Mar, including five furlongs in 1:00 at Del Mar on Aug. 15. A winner of 3 of 10 starts, Malarchuk will start at Del Mar for the first time on Saturday.

McCarthy has confidence Malarchuk can handle the surface.

“He seems to be enjoying himself down here,” McCarthy said.

Journalism gave McCarthy one of his two stakes wins at the current Del Mar meeting, which began on July 17 and runs through Sept. 7. McCarthy is one of six trainers with two stakes wins at Del Mar this summer along with Bob Baffert, Phil D’Amato, Antonio Garcia, Graham Motion, and Jeff Mullins.

There are five stakes at Del Mar on Saturday and Sunday and an excellent chance that someone will emerge as the leading trainer of the meeting in stakes wins.

Baffert, Garcia, and Motion, who is based in Maryland and is 2 for 2 with stakes shippers, do not have any runners in stakes this weekend at Del Mar. McCarthy has three horses in three stakes, Mullins has four runners in three stakes, and D’Amato has nine runners in four stakes.

McCarthy has a deep bunch of top-class runners that will start or return to training in coming weeks and months.

Bullard, second in the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap in Iowa on July 11, was nominated to the Pacific Classic, but is booked to start in the Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic at 1 1/8 miles in West Virginia on Aug. 28.

The 2-year-old filly Ogle, a maiden race winner at Del Mar on Aug. 14 in her first start, may run in the $750,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies at a mile at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 7.

Ogle, owned by John and Jerry Amerman, is by Oscar Performance and is a half-brother to Stark Contrast, a three-time stakes winner who has not raced since a win in the Grade 1 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 2.

Stark Contrast, owned by the Amermans, was turned out for a rest in early summer, and is scheduled to return to McCarthy’s stable on Oct. 1.

The 3-year-old filly Meaning, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks in April, is also scheduled to return to the stable on Oct. 1 following an early summer break. She was third in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Saratoga on June 5 in her last start.

The Santa Anita fall meeting is likely to mark the return to racing for McCarthy’s Call Sign Seven, who won the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap on turf at Del Mar last November. Call Sign Seven has not raced since an eighth-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park in January.

On Friday at Del Mar, Call Sign Seven worked three furlongs in 35.60, his second workout this month.

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