You could say the story of the San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita on March 1 wrote itself as JOURNALISM powerfully won the 1 1/16 mile race on the dirt and earned 37.5 Kentucky Derby points. It was the second straight stakes win for the handsome bay son of Curlin – Mopotism, by Uncle Mo.
It was a huge Saturday for Journalism’s trainer MIKE MCCARTHY, who won three graded stakes races on the Santa Anita card. McCarthy, who won the 2021 Preakness Stakes with Rombauer, has been training since 2007.
Journalism (3-1), ridden by Umberto Rispoli, settled comfortably in fourth after breaking alertly. Of the three runners in the field trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, it was Barnes who went to the early lead (2-5) with stablemate Rodriguez (7-2) flanked to his outside and longshot Smooth Cruisein also up near the leaders.
Barnes would set a pace of 23.71, 47.31 and 1:11.10 for six furlongs under Juan Hernandez. On the second turn, Rodriguez and Smooth Cruisein both began to weaken as Journalism was just finding his best stride. Angled to the outside for the stretch drive, Journalism took dead aim at Barnes and collared that rival inside the final furlong. He would proceed to win by 1 ¾ lengths in a time of 1:42.24.
Journalism is owned a host of partnerships: Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners of Aaron Wellman, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Elayne Stables 5 LLC and Robert Lapenta.
“Obviously it’s nice to have a horse on the Triple Crown trail,” said McCarthy. “The connections have had a lot of success, there are some new people involved with the horse. It is always great to have a horse that can take you places and he looks like he is taking himself and everybody else with him. I was fairly confident today. I wouldn’t say I was overly confident, but I thought he was doing well enough to make some noise today. It is a little overwhelming to think of where this horse could go. He was certainly ready. With a horse like Barnes, and how good he is, you wonder if he is good enough. Certainly, today it looked like he was.”
There have been four San Felipe winners go on to the win the Kentucky Derby since 2000.
Journalism was bought for $875,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling sale in 2023. Don Alberto Corporation bred the colt who is the first foal to race of Mopotism, who won the 2018 La Canada Stakes (G2) and earned over $800,000. Mopotism is from the mare Peppy Rafaela (Bernardini), who was unplaced but produced three winners including debut winner Ruth for trainer Todd Pletcher in December.
Second dam Peppy Lapeau is the dam of Songster, winner of the Woody Stephens Breeders Cup Stakes (G2) and two other graded stakes.
SOVEREIGNTY takes Fountain of Youth
Another good-sized colt with a late kick, Sovereignty, made a last-to-first sweep to overtake previously undefeated River Thames nearing the finish of Saturday’s $415,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park.
The son of Into Mischief, owned and bred by Godolphin, who closed out his two-year-old season with a victory in the Oct. 27 Street Sense (G3) at Churchill Downs, stamped himself as a most promising prospect for the Triple Crown campaign while winning his 2025 debut by a neck.
The 79th running of the 1 1/16-mile stakes for three-year-olds offered qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale.
Sovereignty ($8.40) settled into stride as Neoequos was rushed out of the starting gate by Irad Ortiz Jr. to challenge River Thames for the lead and take early command entering the backstretch. Neoequos set fractions of 23.12 and 47.07 seconds for the first half-mile while the long-striding Sovereignty continued to trail the six-horse field. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez asked River Thames and the son of Maclean’s Music put in his challenge to the pacesetter on the far turn. Meanwhile, jockey Junior Alvarado also asked Sovereignty for his run, and the strapping colt responded, making a three-wide sweep to loom boldly while passing a struggling 9-5 favorite Burnham Square.
Neoequos maintained a lead at the top of the stretch before River Thames changed leads and took charge in mid-stretch, only to be caught late by the fast-closing Sovereignty.
“It was a great run. He had a good trip. We had a good post inside, saved some ground on the first turn,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “Fortunately, we didn’t get an outside post and have to be wide on the first turn. He saved some ground, he was able to tip out, and he’s got some acceleration.”
Sovereignty, who broke his maiden in his third career start in the Street Sense, ran 1 1/16-miles in 1:43.12.
Gotham Winner Flood Zone Wins for Emir of Qatar
Flood Zone (Frosted – Curls for Girls by Curlin) overcame a number of firsts in his initial start for new connections, including stretching out to the distance of one mile, making his first foray into open company, and competing at Aqueduct Racetrack.
None of that proved to present any obstacles as he scored the upset in Saturday’s $300,000 Gotham (G3) to earn 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby (G1) and pass a milepost on the road to Louisville on the first Saturday in May.
Trained by Brad Cox, Flood Zone was making his first start for Wathnan Racing, which bought the speedy bay after his maiden win at Gulfstream on January 4. He won by 5 1/4 lengths in a 6 1/2 furlong sprint that day with an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
The connections decided to stick with the three-year-old bay colt’s regular jockey, Reylu Gutierrez, who was in the irons again when Flood Zone traveled the one-turn mile in 1:39.62 on a fast track to defeat the other eight sophomores in the field.
Flood Zone went through three sales and was bought back for $24,000, $72,000 and then bought by VEB Stables for $45,000. His dam Curls for Girls won one of 12 races and is a half-sister to stakes winners Sue’s Good News and Easyfromthegitgo. This is the family of champion Cozzene.
Wathnan Racing is named after a desert Arabian, a beloved stallion of Al Thani family folklore. He in turn was named for his kind and eager disposition – ‘wathnan’ can be translated as a ‘crown of ears’, referring to his pricked ears, the surest sign that a horse truly is your friend.
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