The modern thoroughbred gets plenty of flak for not being as hardy as the equine heroes of yesteryear but Journalism proved proved himself equal parts brilliant and brave to fight through the interference, shouldering his way out of trouble when many simply would have shouldered arms.
That Journalism wanted to do that, regather himself and then run down the leader just two weeks after his narrow loss in the Kentucky mud suggests he is a special horse and now all eyes turn to a possible rematch with Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes, the last leg of this dead crown, on June 7.
The public would usually fixate on the Derby winner heading to the Belmont, but after the heart Journalism showed yesterday, he may have even more supporters than Sovereignty if they clash again to decide who is North America’s best 3-year-old.
What does it all mean to Kiwis, who rarely bet on US horse racing, a jurisdiction far less important to us than Australia, Hong Kong or even Europe?
Probably not a lot.
But you could spend the next few years watching the best horse racing from around the world and not see a horse get up off the canvas like Journalism did yesterday.
PUTTING THE WIND UP
Hāwera provided a new way to nearly lose a race meeting yesterday and, this time, nobody was to blame.
While slippery tracks and abandoned meetings have become one of the biggest threats to the financial stability of the thoroughbred industry, it was high winds that caused delays to yesterday’s meeting.
The wind was gale-like by the middle of the afternoon and raised concerns about safety and fair starts as it was blowing some of the starting gates closed again after they opened.
That saw the fifth race delayed so some of the springs that open the starting gates could be replaced but helpfully, the wind dropped and racing continued.
NARROW LEAD
It is advantage Walker/Bergerson in the battle to be the black-type kings of New Zealand racing.
The country’s leading trainers had to settle for second with Towering Vision in the Champagne Stakes at Ellerslie on Saturday but won the only other black type race in the country when Francee triumphed in the listed Rangitīkei Cup at Trentham.
That takes them to 18 black-type wins in New Zealand for the season, one more than Stephen Marsh, on 17, in his best year.
While the premiership matters and total stakes even more, trainers take enormous pride in black-type wins and the Te Akau trainers, whether that be Walker, Bergerson or formerly Jamie Richards, haven’t lost the black-type title since 2019 when Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman trained 25 elite-level winners.
With only three black-type races remaining for the season, all in Central Districts, Marsh is running out of opportunities to claw the lead back but both stables are going to finish with new personal bests for the season on stakes won.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald‘s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
