With new rider Jose Ortiz aboard for the first time early Oct. 26 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, multiple Grade 1 winner Journalism completed his final work for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), set for November 1.
Post positions will be drawn for all 14 Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 on Monday evening, 7 p.m. Eastern.
Ortiz, who is replacing Umberto Rispoli, flew in from Kentucky Saturday evening after competing at Keeneland Race Course – arriving around 1 a.m. – and worked the son of Curlin five furlongs at 6:30 a.m. as dawn was arriving at the track. They completed the assignment from trainer Michael McCarthy in 1:01 2/5.
Ortiz talked with McCarthy following the breeze and was promptly headed back to the airport for a return trip to Kentucky to ride at Churchill Downs Sunday afternoon.
McCarthy and Ortiz said they accomplished the goal of introducing the veteran jockey to the standout 3-year-old a week ahead of the marquee race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, where Journalism will take on his nemesis – top 3-year-old Sovereignty – along with the 1-2-3 finishers from last year’s Classic in Sierra Leone, Fierceness, and Forever Young (JPN).
“We just thought it was good for him to go ahead and sit on him, get a feel of him, kind of test drive a little bit,” McCarthy said. “It’s not like it’s never been done before. So grateful that he was able to kind of take a race or two off today and come out here and help us out.”
Ortiz said that everything went smoothly.
“He’s a very classy horse. A beautiful mover,” Ortiz said. “We went out there and did five eighths. I just let him stretch his legs and be happy. Michael was very happy with the work. The horse is ready. He is very happy with what I did today.”
Journalism, trained by Michael W. McCarthy, exercises in preparation for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, California on October 25, 2025. (Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire/Breeders Cup)
Ortiz is taking over a well-known athlete, who has proven himself in top-level competition this season. He said there certainly was value in making the trip to ride Journalism in training.
“I just get to know him a little bit better,” Ortiz said. “I’ve seen the replays. I know the horse. I was going to get together with the team and see how would they like to do stuff, what position they would like to see him in. We go from there. Make a plan, and we go from there.”
That Journalism has written a fine career in his first 10 starts has definitely not been a surprise to his connections. With a 6-3-1 record and $3,998,880 in earnings, he is a prime-time player in the Classic.
“He’s the horse who, honestly, from the moment we hung a bridle over his head at Bridlewood Farm as a yearling, going into his 2-year-old season, exuded talent, quality, intelligence, class, and he was one that tipped his cap very early and allowed for us to categorize him as a bona-fide classic-type individual,” said Aron Wellman, president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “Most of horses that present themselves that way will break your heart along the way. Thankfully, he’s been a treasure and delivered at every turn and then some.”
Wellman ticked off a series of accomplishments that have taken place in the last 12 months, from winning a graded stakes as a 2-year-old, running a triple digit Beyer speed figure in his first race as a 3-year-old in the San Felipe, winning the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, and finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Following the Derby, he overcame trouble to win the Preakness Stakes (G1), then ran second to Sovereignty again in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and headed back across the country to win the Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park in July. In his most recent start, against older horses in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 30, was he was second to Fierceness, the 2023 juvenile champ who he will face again in the Classic.
Journalism won four consecutive races prior to the Kentucky Derby, where he was a 3-1 favorite. He has never lost two races in a row, but his 3 1/4-length loss to Fierceness in the Pacific Classic was the widest of his career. Following the Pacific Classic, his connections decided to make a jockey switch. McCarthy noted that the colt was a little farther back early in the Pacific Classic and suggested that he would be closer to the pace in the Classic.
“He’s had races where he’s shown himself to be very tactical in the past,” McCarthy said. “I think we’re going to go ahead and kind of bounce on out of there and put him in a spot where we feel he’s within striking distance, should anyone move at any time. Always in these bigger and better races, it seems like they always go on kind of a half a step slower the opening quarter mile and opening half mile. We’ll leave that up to Jose to see how things unfold. But we’ll have a game plan in place, like we always do and see if we can execute that.
“You can make a case for probably seven or eight horses winning this race here next Saturday.”
CLASSIC FIELD (10)
9th race Nov. 1 Post 6:25 p.m. EST
Horse / Owner / Trainer / Breeder
Antiquarian / Centennial Farms LLC / Todd A. Pletcher / Brereton C. Jones
Baeza / C R K Stable LLC and Grandview Equine / John A. Shirreffs / Grandview Equine
Contrary Thinking / Peter M. Brant / Chad C. Brown / Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC
Fierceness / Repole Stable, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Mrs. John Magnier / Todd A. Pletcher / Repole Stable, Inc.
Forever Young (JPN) / Susumu Fujita / Yoshito Yahagi / Northern Racing
Journalism / Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert V. La Penta,
Elayne Stables #5, LLC, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith / Michael W. McCarthy / Don Alberto Corporation
Mindframe / Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC / Todd A. Pletcher / R. Larry Johnson
Nevada Beach / Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman / Bob Baffert / Paul Tackett Revocable Trust, Phil Tackett Estate & Christy Tackett
Sierra Leone Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Rocket Ship Racing LLC, Peter M. Brant / Chad C. Brown / Debby M. Oxley
Sovereignty / Godolphin, LLC / Bill Mott / Godolphin
More News
