Journalism was scheduled to resume training this week at Santa Anita, weather permitting, after a smashing victory March 1 in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, his first start since Dec. 14, when he won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity. Journalism won the San Felipe with a 108 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest San Felipe figure since California Chrome earned the same figure in 2014.
Even his understated trainer, Michael McCarthy, was impressed with Journalism.
WHO’S HOT
Journalism rockets to favoritism on the Derby Watch Top 20 following a decisive 108 Beyer Speed Figure comeback victory over heavily favored Barnes in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita. Journalism’s price was lowered to 9-2 by Daily Racing Form linemaker David Aragona. Barnes, who finished more than nine lengths clear of third, drops slightly to 8-1.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Bill Mott voiced his concern earlier in the week about his late-running Sovereignty having to make his 3-year-old debut over what is generally considered a speed-favoring track with a short stretch run in races decided at a mile and one sixteenth. But in the end, those worries proved unfounded, as Sovereignty ran down River Thames in the closing strides Saturday at Gulfstream Park to register a neck victory in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth.
ARCADIA, Calif. – All the pre-race hype was on the wrong 3-year-old Saturday in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.
Journalism ran past odds-on favorite Barnes in deep stretch of the San Felipe, winning by one and three-quarter lengths and stamping himself as a leading candidate – perhaps the new favorite – for the Kentucky Derby.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's Wathnan Racing purchased the colt Flood Zone following his second start, a 5 1/4-length win on Jan. 4 in a Florida-bred maiden race at Gulfstream. Whether Flood Zone wants to run as far as the 1 1/4 miles of the Kentucky Derby and is a good enough horse to contend in such a race remains to be seen, but Flood Zone earned 50 qualifying points toward the Derby when he captured the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths Saturday at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ferocious, currently 19th in the point standings for the 2025 Kentucky Derby, has been taken off the Derby trail, his connections reported on Friday.
Ferocious, two-time Grade 1 placed at 2 who finished fourth making his 3-year-old debut earlier this month in the Grade 2 Holy Bull, suffered a muscle tear after the race, according to Gustavo Delgado Jr., a part owner of the horse and the son of trainer Gustavo Delgado.
Viewed through the prism of a Kentucky Derby prep, Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes comes up lacking. Viewed through the prism of a gambling exercise, the Gotham comes up rather intriguing.
Eight of the 10 entrants come into the race off wins, many in restricted races. None of the 10 have an open-company stakes win on their résumé, and only one has even competed in such a race.
Opera Ballo performed to expectations with a four-length win in Wednesday’s $75,800 European Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes at Kempton Park outside of London, the first race of 2025 in the European-Middle East qualifying series for the Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by William Buick, Opera Ballo ($3.60) stalked pacesetter and stablemate Olympus Point to early stretch before taking the lead and drawing clear of five rivals.
Shortly after Janis Whitham put horses into Carl Nafzger’s barn in 2004, the Hall of Fame trainer began to scale back his operation, eventually turning his stable over to his longtime assistant, Ian Wilkes.
Whitham is a fixture in the Thoroughbred business. With her husband, Frank, she campaigned two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and female champion Bayakoa. And according to her son, Clay, she never thought about moving her horses out of Wilkes’s barn after Nafzger retired.
