Horse racing has been on death watch forever. But the sport’s future has never been more up in the air than it was heading into this year’s Preakness Stakes. The lead storyline before the race was the state of Pimlico, a Baltimore race track that’s been open since 1870 and has hosted the Preakness for more than 150 years, but has gone completely to hell. The track closes after this weekend, and the whole compound is scheduled to be demolished by the state.
But for however long Pimlico and the Preakness are talked about, the 2025 version of the old race will be remembered. It was that damn good.
Journalism and jockey Umberto Rispoli fought off bad vibes from a tough Kentucky Derby loss and the roughhouse tactics of other entrants to win the Preakness and the racing immortality that comes with winning any Triple Crown leg. It’s the way he won that made this race special.
The shortest path to the finish line at every track is along the rail, but legend long held that the "inside bias" at Pimlico was as strong as any. Lots of racing folks thought the race to the rail coming out of the gate at the legendary Baltimore track equated with a race to the finish line. The 1982 Kentucky Derby winner Gato Del Sol didn’t even come to the Preakness at a time when the Derby champ not going for a Triple Crown was considered blasphemy by the racing industry. The horse’s connections told folks hurt by the decision that, given the typical conditions, they didn’t think Gato Del Sol, known for its closing kick, had the early speed required to make a race of it at Old Hilltop. Like everything with horses, the inside bias theory has its naysayers. But Rispoli, no doubt under instruction from trainer Michael McCarthy, kept Journalism on the inside coming out of the two hole in the starting gate—and stayed there.
The downside of being inside at Pimlico or any track is that, unless you’re in the lead, you’re rarely alone. And Journalism found he had way too much company early on. He had Clever Again on his inside and Goal Oriented on the outside. Coming out of the final turn, Gosger, a long shot with a much cleaner trip, took the lead and began widening it as Journalism sat in fourth place and completely bottled in along the rail.
"He's behind a wall of horses!" shouted NBC’s fabulous race-caller Larry Collmus as the nine-horse pack thundered down the stretch. "He's looking for a place to go! He’s got nowhere to go!"
All of Collmus’s worry and excitement was warranted. And then a bad situation for Journalism got worse. At the 1/16th pole, Goal Oriented swerved to the inside and nailed Journalism with a heavy shoulder. Goal Oriented’s rider, Flavien Prat, even appeared to give a sharp elbow to Journalism’s face. The collision knocked Journalism into Clever Again’s torso.
Bumping of this order is OK for stock car racing. But horse racing ain’t NASCAR. Only a special horse can take a hit like those Journalism took and keep his eyes on the prize. Clever Again and Goal Oriented came out of the tumult worse for wear, and dropped out of contention.
Journalism, however, woke up. Gosger, who had steered clear of the mess, opened up a five-length lead thanks to the tumult going on behind him. But when Rispoli asked his jostled mount to fire, Journalism fired. By god, did he! Journalism got bettors’ attention for a reason: He kicked into a gear nobody else in the field had. As horsemen looked on in awe and the Pimlico crowd roared, the Kentucky-bred son of Curlin and distant descendant of Secretariat chased down Gosger like the frontrunner stole his carrot. Journalism hit the wire ahead by half a length.
Stewards reviewed the tape for fouls before ruling Journalism was on the business end of any dirty dealings during the race and let the winner stay atop the board. As all race recap stories require: Journalism paid $4.00 to win.
Journalism had gone off in the Kentucky Derby as a favorite but finished second to Sovereignty. Then Sovereignty’s team decided to skip the Preakness and save the horse for next month's Belmont Stakes. The move took away all Triple Crown possibilities for this year, which is historically the main story line for the second-leg of the series.
Given the pall hanging over Pimlico these days, Sovereignty’s absence meant nostalgic tales were left to rule the day. Lots of media attention leading up to the race was given to 89-year old trainer D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of long shot American Promise, who was hoping to tie fellow racing Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, 72, for most Preakness wins ever. Baffert has won the race an incredible eight times; Lukas seven. (As it was, both the legends finished out of the money this year.)
And NBC’s Ahmed Fareed did a bizarre segment with Kegasus, the late and in many corners lamented former mascot of the Preakness who pushed the infield drinking opportunities presented by the event. This Kegasus was younger and in better shape than the Kegasus from a decade-and-a-half ago that I remember with incredible fondness. And with good reason: He’s a fake! Spokesmen for both the Maryland Jockey Club and the Stronach Group, which still owns the Preakness and originally came up with the Kegasus promotion, told Defector Media they had nothing to do with the resurrection. John C. Bailey, the actor who brilliantly played Kegasus throughout the party manimal’s glorious two-year run as lord of the Pimlico infield, posted beneath the clip on YouTube that the character being presented by NBC as Kegasus was nothing but "a rando in a baaaad costume." Bailey told Defector that he too had nothing to do with the character who got national television exposure. Bailey said he was "sorry to see Pimlico is going away" but also was unaware the Preakness was happening this weekend. When racing loses the real Kegasus, it's in trouble.
NBC, understandably, did make lots of attempts to appeal to an audience younger than horse racing typically attracts. Then again, at this stage of the game we’re talking about a long-in-the-tooth demographic that could be described as "dead minus not that many years." The broadcast gave scads of airtime to Griffin Johnson, a part of the ownership group of Sandman, a horse named for a Metallica song. Johnson was continually referred to as "an influencer," though, even after all the exposure I got to him, I’m still unclear on what he does. With a great stretch run of his own, Sandman finished third. Airtime was also devoted to 23-year-old British jockey Saffie Osborne, atop Heart of Honor, trained by her father, Jamie Osborne. Heart of Honor finished fifth, about nine lengths off the pace. Both the young jockey and the alleged influencer came off as pleasant enough in the pre-race hype.
Alas, in the end, all the 2025 Preakness needed to sell racing was the race itself. Long live Journalism. Long live the Preakness. Long live Pimlico.
