DEL MAR \u2013 In the slowly brightening light about a half-hour before sunrise Sunday at Del Mar Racetrack, a jockey wearing a white windbreaker climbed aboard a bay 3-year-old colt for the first time.<\/p>\n
Normally this wouldn\u2019t be worth mentioning, but this wasn\u2019t just any jockey introducing himself to just any colt. And it\u2019s not just any race they\u2019ll be competing in Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The jockey was Jose Ortiz, one of the best in the world. The colt was Journalism, one of the best in the country. And the race is the $7 million Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic, the richest run each year in North America.<\/p>\n
Not two weeks earlier, such a pairing was as unlikely as a Del Mar beach house selling for less than seven figures.<\/p>\n
But on Oct. 17, Rancho Santa Fe resident Aron Wellman, managing director of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, which co-owns Journalism, announced Ortiz would replace Umberto Rispoli on Journalism for the Classic \u2013 the highlight of a two-day, 14-race championship card that starts Friday at Del Mar.<\/p>\n
Wellman and trainer Michael McCarthy have not discussed specific reasons for replacing Rispoli, other than to say Ortiz was available and, as Wellman put it Sunday, \u201cJose\u2019s well on his way to the Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortiz, 32, probably could have just shown up on the weekend and ridden Journalism for the first time in the race \u2013 it\u2019s been done many times before \u2013 but all involved thought it was important he familiarize himself with the horse.<\/p>\n
How important? Ortiz rode a full card of races Saturday at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., flew to San Diego through Dallas that night, got delayed so he arrived after 12:30 a.m., slept for 4\u00bd hours, came out to McCarthy\u2019s barn at Del Mar before 6 a.m. Sunday, then departed immediately after Journalism\u2019s five-furlong workout on a private plane that took him from Carlsbad to Louisville, Ky., so he could ride five horses at Churchill Downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t try to test him or anything,\u201d said Ortiz, who ranks ninth all-time among jockeys in earnings and won the 2017 Eclipse Award as North America\u2019s top rider. \u201cWe know he\u2019s a nice horse, just trying to get to know him a little bit. He was very classy out there. Beautiful mover. I just let him stretch his legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very grateful for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the other end of the spectrum is Rispoli, who rode Journalism in his first race exactly one year ago Monday at Santa Anita. The colt was third that day, won his next start Nov. 17 at Del Mar under Ricky Gonzalez, then finished the year by winning the Los Alamitos Futurity.<\/p>\n
Rispoli rode Journalism that day and was aboard for all seven of his starts this year \u2013 wins in the San Felipe, Santa Anita Derby, Preakness and Haskell, and seconds in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and, most recently, the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. The colt has earned just shy of $4 million and the only horses to beat him since his debut are likely to be the top two choices in the Classic \u2013 Sovereignty (Kentucky Derby and Belmont) and Fierceness (Pacific Classic).<\/p>\n
Rispoli, 37, has taken the high road since the decision, telling the Hong Kong-based website IdolHorse.com that the hardest part was having \u201cto tell my wife and kids that I won\u2019t be riding the horse. My kids (sons 8 and 3) cried for two hours. They just kept asking me, \u2018Why, dad, why are you not riding the horse?\u2019 We have to look forward now and move on, not focus on bad things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is not much I can do, I have to accept it. I don\u2019t like the decision but I have to accept it; that\u2019s their decision to make. I have a strong mentality. I\u2019ve come a long way and I\u2019ve learned over time how to react to this moment. It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve lost a ride and it\u2019s probably not going to be the last time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rispoli could have as many as five \u00a0other Breeders\u2019 Cup mounts, though apart from Johannes in the Mile, all will be long shots. Rispoli has not won with 18 previous Cup mounts; he has three runner-up finishes, including last year with Johannes.<\/p>\n
Ortiz has had 88 Breeders\u2019 Cup mounts and six wins, including four at Del Mar, though he is 0-for-11 in the Classic. He\u2019s also finished second 10 times and third 10 times.<\/p>\n
Journalism has been favored in his last six races and never started at odds of 5-1 or higher. That will change Saturday, but McCarthy said he\u2019s pleased with how the horse has trained since the Pacific Classic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been kind of the same horse, I\u2019ve been telling everybody, since July of last year,\u201d said McCarthy, who owns two Breeders\u2019 Cup wins. \u201cAlways looks well in the flesh, but he\u2019s filled out, matured, put on a little weight since the Pacific Classic. You know, when you\u2019ve got extended weeks to get ready for a race like this, you leave no stone unturned. So he\u2019s as good as we could ask for him to be today.<\/p>\n
\u201cHorses like him don\u2019t come around very often so certainly excited to see how he stacks up against America\u2019s best. It\u2019s arguably the best Classic probably in about 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breeders\u2019 Cup at Del Mar<\/p>\n
Friday<\/strong><\/p>\n First post: 11:35 a.m. (10 races)<\/p>\n Weather.com forecast: 72 degrees, mostly sunny<\/p>\n Cup races: Juvenile Turf Sprint (2:45 p.m.), Juvenile Fillies (3:25), Juvenile Fillies Turf (4:05), Juvenile (4:45), Juvenile Turf (5:25)<\/p>\n On the air: 1-5 p.m., USA Network; all races on FanDuel TV and\u00a0breederscup.com; all Cup races streamed on Peacock<\/p>\n Saturday<\/strong><\/p>\n First post: 10:05 a.m. (12 races)<\/p>\n Weather.com forecast: 71 degrees, sunny<\/p>\n Cup races: Filly & Mare Sprint (noon), Turf Sprint (12:41), Sprint (1:21), Distaff (2:01), Turf (2:41), Classic (3:25), Mile (4:05), Dirt Mile (4:45), Filly and Mare Turf (5:25)<\/p>\n On the air: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., USA Network; 12:30-4 p.m., NBC; 4-5 p.m., USA; all races on FanDuel TV and breederscup.com; all Cup races streamed on Peacock.<\/p>\n Originally Published: October 26, 2025 at 12:24 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DEL MAR \u2013 In the slowly brightening light about a half-hour before sunrise Sunday at Del Mar Racetrack,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":334487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,23125,1370,3549,7264,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-334486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-horse-racing","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115442126947608418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}