Haskell Stakes 2025: Journalism is favorite in a field of 8
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Journalism was made the 4-5 morning line favorite in a field of eight that was drawn Tuesday for Monmouth Park’s Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes. The signature race at the Jersey shore track will be run on Saturday at a distance of 1 1/8 miles.
Journalism, who drew post position 2, earned his spot as the race favorite as the only horse who ran in all three legs of the Triple Crown, where he finished second in the Kentucky Derby, won the Preakness and was second in the Belmont Stakes. Before those races, the Michael McCarthy trainee won four races in a row, moving from a maiden victory to wins in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), San Felipe (G2) and the Santa Anita Derby (G1). In eight career starts, Journalism won $3.19 million and never finished worse than third.
“The last three weeks he is really alive and excelled and told us that he was ready to get back on a plane to go across the country to run in the Haskell,” said Aron Wellman, president of co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “We like the timing. We like all the factors and ingredients about the Haskell. And we are not looking past the Haskell because it's going to be a severe challenge on Saturday. We respect all of the competition. We do like the spacing from the Haskell to his next objective.”
At 4-1 Goal Oriented got post-position 8 for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert as he tries to win the Haskell for the 10th time. Baffert won for the first time in 2001 with Point Given and with the Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015. But he has not won the Haskell since 2020 with Authentic. Goal Oriented was last seen running fourth in the Preakness after getting bumped and having to check at the top of the stretch. Goal Oriented shows a series of very fast workouts at Santa Anita in preparation for only the fourth start of his career.
“In the Preakness, he had a little bit of a rough start and didn't get away well and was behind horses,” Baffert said. “He had never been in that situation and then got in that little scrap turning for home. If he hadn’t run into that he would have run third or closer, but he came out of it well. He’s a big horse and still growing. He’s been working very well and I really think that he's improved. He needs to have improved if he's going to be really competitive in this race. So, I feel good about the way he’s coming into the race.”
Gosger drew post 6 and was assigned odds of 9-2 after his second-place finish in the Preakness. The Brendan Walsh runner had the lead by five lengths in the stretch by was caught by the determined late rally by Journalism. Gosger won the Lexington Stakes (G3) by two lengths on the Kentucky Derby trail in April.
Burnham Square is the 5-1 fourth choice and drew position 4. The Ian Wilkes runner was prominent on the Kentucky Derby, trail where he won the Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream Park and the Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland. He was sixth in the run for the roses after being bumped and having to check at the half-mile pole. Last seen, Burnham Square was second in the Matt Winn (G3) at Churchill Downs last month.
The other entrants are Bracket Buster, who won the Pegasus at Monmouth in June; Wildncrazynight, an allowance winner who was second in the Pegasus; National Law, fourth in the Pegasus; and Kentucky Outlaw, winner of the Long Branch at Monmouth in May.
Post time for the Haskell, a win-and-you're-in for the Breeders' Cup Classic, is 5:45 p.m. EDT. The race is part of Monmouth Park’s biggest day of racing with five other stakes on the schedule, United Nations (G2) on the turf, Molly Pitcher (G3) for fillies and mares, Monmouth Cup (G3) for older horses, Matchmaker (G3) on the turf for fillies and mares and the turf sprint Wolf Hill.
2025 Haskell Stakes G1
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