Journalism, Sandman, New Shooters Shape Preakness 150

About a week ago the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) briefly had the look of a grade 3 stakes race. The connections of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sovereignty had announced their 3-year-old would skip the May 17 middle jewel in the Triple Crown to run in the year's final classic, the June 7 Belmont Stakes (G1). At the time, Kentucky Derby runner-up Journalism was a question mark for the Preakness and Sandman, also a grade 1 winner, was coming off an uninspiring seventh-place finish in the Run for the Roses and seemed a more likely candidate for the longer Belmont. At that point the classic lacked a grade 1 winner. As it turned out, the Preakness wound up with a field as good as one could expect without the Derby winner. Both Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Journalism and Sandman were entered, along with a third Kentucky Derby runner in American Promise, to give the Preakness an element of class and star power befitting a Triple Crown test. Yet the events of the past two weeks underscored what has become the current state of the five-week-long Triple Crown. For one, it's no longer a given that the Derby winner will occupy stall 40 at Pimlico Race Course. While each Kentucky Derby winner from 1997 through 2018 moved on to the Preakness, Sovereignty became the third Derby winner in seven years to sit it out. Beyond that, other than 89-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas who conditions American Promise, the days of a trainer quickly saying "It's on to the Preakness" are over. The situation involving Journalism, the two-week gap between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and how the decision to run in the Preakness was made is a sign of the times. Journalism's connections never indicated they would not run. They just remained noncommittal until the weekend before the race as they dotted all their i's and crossed all their t's. "We kept saying we are going to evaluate it. It had nothing to do with stringing along the media or garnering attention," said Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' founder and president Aron Wellman, the managing partner of the ownership group. "We were going to take as much time as we needed to feel comfortable with the appropriate decision." Wellman said the overriding concern of the owners and trainer Michael McCarthy was monitoring Journalism to see if there was any sign of fatigue after a tough race at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. "First and foremost it all hinges on the horse itself. So to rush into a decision after a horse has just run in the Kentucky Derby and consider running in the Preakness makes absolutely no sense," Wellman said. "You need an understanding of how the horse has emerged from the race and that applies if the horse won the race or finished second, in the middle of the pack, or at the rear. The important thing is monitoring the horse's appetite, his condition, his energy, his mindset, and then taking all the time we need to make the prudent decision for the horse. And then when the horse gives Michael McCarthy the indication that he's up to the task, then we have a considerable ownership group of partners that need to be considered. There's a lot of moving parts." Wellman said Sovereignty's defection and financial considerations like a seven-figure kicker for a classic win in the owners' stallion deal with Coolmore played no role in the decision made by the original ownership group of Eclipse, Bridlewood Farm, Robert LaPenta, breeder Don Alberto Stable, and Elayne Stables 5. "If Michael McCarthy told us Journalism would not be able to perform at his best, that was going to be our guiding principle, not the money," Wellman said. "Sovereignty's status had absolutely no bearing on whether Journalism was going to run in the Preakness or not. We have a lot of respect for Sovereignty and his connections. Full credit to him for beating us, but whether he showed up or not had no impact on our decision. It was entirely contingent upon the condition of the horse, our partners' meeting of the minds, and having a conviction that Journalism was prepared to perform at his best in a very important, prestigious, historic race like the Preakness." Yet for all the fretting about the state of the Preakness field a week ago, in the end the final Preakness at the "old" Pimlico turned out with a good field and perhaps the sporting gesture of running quality Kentucky Derby runners such as Journalism and Sandman on two weeks' rest may encourage others in future years to follow suit. "Can we be good ambassadors for the sport and the industry at large by running a high-profile horse in an important classic that will not have the Kentucky Derby winner in the field? That's an element we wanted to be cognizant of as well. But first and foremost is the horse," Wellman said. "I'm a student of the game and have a huge appreciation for its history. When you go back and look at some of the best horses of the last 25 years, you see many of them never even thought twice about performing in two of the three or all three of the Triple Crown races. Times have changed. So, to have a horse with that sturdy, hearty constitution like Journalism, we're going to showcase it. Hopefully it proves fruitful and sends a message to other players in the game not to be reluctant to do it with their horses if they feel they are suitable for the challenge." While the Preakness would have been a wide-open betting affair without the top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby, the presence of Journalism gives the race a deserving favorite from post 2 who is 8-5 in the morning line but could easily be lower than that by Saturday's 7:01 p.m. ET (NBC TV) post time. The son of Curlin had a streak of three straight graded stakes wins before his 1 1/2-length loss in the Kentucky Derby and has a stalking running style that should be well suited for Saturday's 1 3/16-mile classic. "I had to go home," McCarthy, winner of the 2021 Preakness with Rombauer, said about the days after this year's Run for the Roses. "I have a barn to run in California so I wanted to come back to Kentucky and make sure Journalism was showing us all the signs he showed before the Derby. His attitude has been great and he's tearing the feed tub off the wall. It was the little things he was doing every day. I just didn't want to commit without having laid my eyes on him." Sandman (4-1), trained by 2019 Preakness winner Mark Casse (War of Will), has grade 1 credentials after winning the Arkansas Derby (G1) but comes into the Preakness off a disappointing seventh in the Kentucky Derby. Was it the sloppy racetrack that hindered the Tapit colt or is he tailing off? The Preakness should answer that question. "Do we draw a line through the Kentucky Derby? I hope so, but maybe not," said Terry Finley, founder and president of West Point Thoroughbreds, which owns the colt along with D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, and CJ Stables. "He certainly doesn't give us the sense that he's tailing off. He's not a big strapping colt, he's a big, lean, beautiful horse. He hadn't lost any weight after the Derby. He was bright and alert. Mark controls the ship. He's the captain and he wanted to go." River Thames (9-2), a son of Maclean's Music, skipped the Kentucky Derby to target the Preakness and the third-place finisher in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) has the kind of tactical speed that could net Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher his first Preakness win in his 11th try. Speed is the name of the game for Winchell Thoroughbreds, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith's Clever Again, an American Pharoah 3-year-old who posted a four-length, front-running win for Steve Asmussen in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park. That win punched his ticket to the Preakness. Goal Oriented (6-1) will try to extend trainer Bob Baffert's record number of Preakness wins to nine. The Not This Time colt is unbeaten but has only raced twice and is running in a stakes for the first time. American Promise (15-1) was a well-beaten 16th in the Derby, some 38 1/2 lengths behind Sovereignty. The Justify colt won the Virginia Derby by a decisive 7 3/4 lengths before that, so, if rain stays away, perhaps a dry track will be the key to unlocking an eighth Preakness win for Lukas. Heart of Honor (GB) (12-1) brings a rare dose of foreign intrigue to the Preakness. The first non-North American-bred starter in the race since 1960, the Honor A. P. colt trained by Jamie Osborne was second by a nose in the UAE Derby (G2), though he lost to Admire Daytona (JPN) who was last in the Kentucky Derby. Pay Billy (20-1) is the local hopeful. The Improbable colt won the Federico Tesio Stakes for trainer Michael Gorham, which is a prep race for the Preakness at Laurel Park. Gosger (20-1) won the Lexington Stakes (G3) last time out for trainer Brendan Walsh in his third start and stakes debut, but the Nyquist colt drew the outside post in the field of nine.