Flatter: After Ky. Derby defeat, Rispoli declares new rivalry

Louisville, Ky.

Whether it was bloodlines or style or even those hoary old Tomlinson ratings, trying to figure out who would win Kentucky Derby 2025 was a study in predicting the impact of a wet spring weekend on a bumper crop of 3-year-olds.

Not one to be included or tossed simply because of these factors, Sovereignty motored through Saturday’s Churchill Downs slop like there was nothing to it.

Kentucky Derby 2025: The story of Sovereign’s victory.

Journalism, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ colt who was the 3-1 post-time favorite, acquitted himself by finishing a more than credible second. But it was the slop that jockey Umberto Rispoli mentioned right away when asked about the difference between victory and defeat.

“I don’t want to find any excuse, honest. Sovereignty really beat us today by far,” Rispoli said with Churchill Downs loam caked on him from helmet to boots. “But I think the mud is not really what (Journalism) would like to do. On a fair track, we probably swallow the defeat today better, but it is what it is.”

What it was was pretty impressive despite the loss. Journalism was in overdrive circling horses in the second turn. He had a narrow lead until the eighth pole. And then Sovereignty passed him on the outside. But this was not the oft-told Derby story of one horse getting the 1 1/4 miles and the other one wilting. This fight went the full 10 rounds.

There was a punch or two thrown early, when Journalism was shuffled back. It was not as bad as what happened to him going into the second turn last month in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. But when Citizen Bull bolted outward from post 1, the domino effect left Journalism in traffic.

“He broke well, but at the eighth pole the first time by, he got shuffled by (Flying Mohawk) just to our outside over toward the rail,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “But Umberto got him in the clear.”

Instead of trouble, Journalism found himself in a mid-pack pocket along the rail. No drama for Rispoli.

“I could save some ground on the first turn,” he said. “He’s a horse with a number 8 like that, they shuffled horses in and out.”

And then he paused. Rispoli did not complicate the tale with a traffic report. Instead, he mimicked what Journalism did and found his way through it.

“At the half-mile pole, I’m in the clear,” Rispoli said. “I just tried to make my moves step by step. I gave myself a chance. I had a couple of horses at the top of the stretch ahead of me.”

Who knew Neoequos at 42-1 and Owen Almighty at 40-1 would be at the front of the Derby pack with a quarter-mile to go? Neoequos would retreat to finish 13th, but Owen Almighty soldiered on to come in an overachieving fifth even after his connections disagreed over whether he even should be in anything longer than the Pat Day Mile (G2).

As for the race in front of him, Rispoli was well aware that Júnior Alvarado and Sovereignty were lurking just over his right shoulder.

“I knew Júnior was right behind me,” Rispoli said. “I was feeling him. I tried to go left-handed (with the crop), but Júnior’s horse handled the slop better today. ... I know that he was there. The fight is on. I know that we are going to go fighting down the stretch.”

“I saw the blue silks coming at us, and I knew that was the one we were going to have to be concerned about,” McCarthy said.

“I feel Júnior,” Rispoli said. “He screamed at me on the backside when I pulled up (beside Sovereignty), so I knew he was there. And I said, oh, I’m going to give him a try.”

“He ran on the best he could, and he ran a very good race,” McCarthy said about Journalism. “But the winner ran a better race.”

“The perfect race,” Rispoli said. “I think both of us ran the perfect race, but the best horse won today. No doubt.”

For bettors who were all in on Journalism, maybe Rispoli’s critical commentary struck the right chord. Taking the long view, though, it would be unfair to say the visitor from California would be a toss if he were to find himself on an off track again. Well, maybe not this off track.

“Churchill is a different sloppy,” Rispoli said. “You can’t compare. He’d never been on this track.”

The idea that Journalism had himself covered in mudders’ pedigree came from his sire Curlin, who won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic regatta, and his damsire Uncle Mo, who was victorious in the 2011 Kelso Handicap (G2) at muddy Belmont Park. But neither of those races was on that different Kentucky slop. Just add that bookmark in the lesson plan for Kentucky Derby 2026.

Sounding like he was taking a stand that Journalism remains at or near the top of the 3-year-old male division, Rispoli said the debate is not over yet.

“I would say we lost the battle but not the war,” Rispoli said. “There’s going to be other times where we will have met. I have a ton of respect for (winning trainer Bill) Mott and Godolphin and Júnior, and congratulations to them.”