Correll’s Corner “Road to the Derby”, Journalism reports in first

Posted On 02 Mar 2025

Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview

Journalism reports in first

TRINITY, Fla. – Journalism overcame a Bob Baffert trio to win the San Felipe Stakes on March 1 at Santa Anita Park in Southern California. The son of Curlin last raced when he won the Los Alamitos Futurity in December, but he was primed to go as he stalked the early pace set by Barnes and Rodriguez.

Journalism collared the two Baffert runners at the top of the stretch and he dispatched Rodriguez quickly, but it took another sixteenth of a mile for him to nail Barnes. He stretched his lead to two lengths at the wire and stopped the timer in 1:42.24 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth race.

Because there were five colts in the race the points won were reduced to 75 percent of the total. Journalism earned 37.5 points to increase his total to 47.5. Barnes got 18.5 points and Rodriguez received 11.25 to bring his total to 21.5. This is a rule that Churchill Downs set for points’ races that draw less than six runners.

Trainer Michael McCarthy said Journalism came back from the layoff in great shape and should only get better the longer they go.

Sovereignty came from last on the backstretch to rundown early leader River Thames to win the Fountain of Youth Stakes by a head at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. The mile-and-a-sixteenth race went in 1:43.12 over a speed-favoring track.

The son of Into Mischief hadn’t run since he won the Grade 3 Street Sense on Oct. 27 at Churchill Downs. Sovereignty picked up 50 points for the win and now has 60 points in his pursuit of a spot in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby.

Trainer Bill Mott said they had to get Sovereignty going sooner because of the short stretch at Gulfstream and the colt came through.

Flood Zone won a very slow running of the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. The one-mile affair went in 1:39.62.

The son of Frosted is trained by Brad Cox and he picked up 50 points toward a start in the Kentucky Derby. He’s not going on my list at this point. Sand Devil, a son of Violence and trained by Linda Rice, was second and he got 25 points.

Dustin Dugas, assistant to Cox, said, “It was a great effort. Reylu [Gutierrez] knows more about the horse than I did – he was a recent purchase and Reylu had ridden him the first two times as well. Brad will decide what is next.”

This week’s top 3-year-olds:

Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) won the Lewis.

Journalism (Curlin) won the San Felipe.

Barnes (Into Mischief) second in San Felipe.

Rodriguez (Authetic) third in San Felipe.

Sovereignty (Into Mischief) won the Fountain of Youth.

John Hancock (Constitution) won the Sam F. Davis.

Coal Battle (Coal Front) won the Rebel at Oaklawn Park.

Disco Time (Not This Time) won the Lecomte at Fairgrounds.

River Thames (Maclean’s Music) second in Fountain of Youth.

Burnham Square (Liam’s Map) fourth in Fountain of Youth.

Getaway Car (Curlin) won the Sunland Derby.