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After pulling off one of the most remarkable stretch runs in Triple Crown history to win the Preakness Stakes, Journalism enters the Belmont Stakes with a chance at redemption. With a win in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, he can redeem himself from the loss in the Kentucky Derby, in which he finished second to Sovereignty, and once again solidify his spot as the best 3-year-old in the country.

7 Journalism (8-5)

  • Trainer Michael McCarthy
  • Jockey Umberto Rispoli
  • Last race 1st in the Preakness Stakes by ½ length
  • Career record 7 starts: 5 wins, 1 second, 1 third
  • Career earnings $2,838,880
  • Best career Beyer Speed Figure 108 (2025 San Felipe Stakes)
  • Sire Curlin

Below, we'll dig further into Journalism as part of our series profiling all the horses competing in the 157th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7. We'll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered Saturday and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.

Belmont Stakes profiles 1 Hill Road | 2 Sovereignty | 3 Rodriguez | 4 Uncaged | 5 Crudo | 6 Baeza | 7 Journalism | 8 Heart of Honor

Belmont Stakes picks Michelle Yu | Gene Menez | Jody Demling | Jeff Hochman

What to know about Journalism

Those who are fans of horse racing—and even many who are not—have seen the finish to the 2025 Preakness Stakes: As the field rounded the far turn, Rispoli, the jockey aboard the overwhelming even-money favorite Journalism, decided to take his mount inside horses instead of around them and quickly found himself blocked by two rivals with nowhere to go.

What happened next will go down as one of the most mind-blowing finishes in Triple Crown history. Like a running back pounding his way through the A gap on fourth-and-1, Journalism powered his way through a hole that wasn't there, knocked the tiring Goal Oriented sideways, lost his momentum, regained it, found himself five lengths behind with a furlong to go and impossibly, impossibly, impossibly accelerated to catch Gosger right at the wire.

The performance validated those who believed Journalism was the Next Big Thing before the Kentucky Derby where he finished second to another Big Thing in Sovereignty.

Journalism's win in the Preakness sets up a rematch with Sovereignty whose connections decided to bypass the Preakness for the Belmont Stakes. Despite having lost to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby, Journalism has been made the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Belmont Stakes at FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET. Sovereignty may have the edge of rest, but Journalism has the edge of recency.

Journalism also has a bit more tactical speed than Sovereignty, which figures to come in handy in a Belmont Stakes that is not projected to have a ton of early speed. But early positioning didn't help Journalism in the Derby when he was still run down by Sovereignty. 

Can Journalism put in not just a third big effort in five weeks, but a fifth big effort since March 1? Based on his half-mile breeze in 47.54 seconds on Sunday, the answer is yes.

Post draw analysis

Aside from being drawn next to Heart of Honor, who was a bit rambunctious in the starting gate in the Preakness Stakes, there's little not to like about post No. 7 for Journalism. He is drawn outside of the speed and should find himself sitting third or fourth early, right behind Rodriguez and Crupo. But the moment of truth for Journalism and Rispoli will come as the field turns for home. Will Rispoli risk going inside again like he did in the Preakness? Or will he take the safe route and go around horses this time?