Umberto Rispoli, who rode the bay colt Journalism into the second place spot at the Kentucky Derby, literally had mud on his face in the post-race interview, which is saying something, the racing conditions weren’t ideal. Going into the race, Kentucky Derby officials knew of the concerning weather; in fact, they very much knew of the 100% chance of rain alert, but considering 72 of the 150 derbies had experienced rain, this warning didn’t seem too out of the ordinary. That is, if you are a horse who can handle the rain.
In his post-race interview, Rispoli called the endeavor a tough bit, saying of his horse Journalism, “He was a little bit upset with the mud in his face; he was very surprised after the some heat, but I was capable to put him on the fence, and you know responded pretty well.” However, Journalism failed to make it to the finish line first, with Sovereignty beating him by one and a half lengths.
Umberto didn’t fail to acknowledge his horse’s effort, as well as ponder what could have been. Weather conditions can dramatically change race outcomes, and for horses that are not used to wet ground, this recent race would have been an uphill battle. Journalism, who was the favorite heading in, certainly experienced this difficulty, and his jockey made it a point to comment on it.
“As for whether a better start would’ve changed things,” Rispoli said, “Look, there’s a lot of question marks when things happen like that. The track was what it was, and he’d never been on it before. So I’d say I lost the battle, not the war. It is what it is.” Fans have been behind Rispoli in his response to this momentous loss, and with Journalism a possibility for the Preakness Stakes on May 17, clearly the victory of the war is still up for grabs.
Fans react to Umberto Rispoli’s comments after Journalism placed second in the Kentucky Derby
One fan wrote of Rispoli, “You and the press were great, and the nominations are not a coincidence. A strong, excellent knight, and your horse is wonderful and strong. I am one of your fans. Bravo the press.” Unclear whether this fan was talking about the interviewer himself or hinting at the origins of Journalism’s unique name: Aron Wellman, one of the horse’s co-owners, was the former editor of his high school newspaper (the press!).
Another fan, though they aligned themselves with this year’s winner, Sovereignty, showed love for Rispoli, as well as flexed their in-depth derby knowledge,“Love Umberto – great race, tough beat. These opportunities don’t come often. Thankfully, I was all over Sovereignty – Journalism was the one to beat for sure after all the great feedback from their peers (even Mrs. Gai Waterhouse had picked him), but Sovereignty offered a lot of value for top connections – Glad for Bill and Junior, great race – Can’t wait for the Belmont, Travers and Classic. Let’s go” Gai Waterhouse picking journalism says a lot, considering she’s one of the most respected horse trainers in the world!
And then it came back to the weather. “Tough beat sick of it always being wet on kd day” one fan wrote alluding to it having rained on 73 of the 151 races now, “It changes the racing strategy the winner ran huge and so did journalism and the 3rd horse it changed all the races today”
Other fans seemed to feel similarly, chiming in for a rematch,“Would like to see a rematch on a dry dirt track. It’s possible one horse thrived on the off track and the other didn’t. How many of the earlier races outcomes were affected by off track.” It almost feels certain that a rematch would have a different outcome, but once those questions start being asked, we might as well throw in others like: What might have happened if Sovereignty was racing out of post 17 (a 0.0% win rate) rather than 18?
Finally, there was a fan who said it like it is, “Not only was it Journalism’s first time running on the track at Churchill Downs…. But it was the first time to race on a muddy track” hinting at just how unevenly stacked the odds were, but perhaps this was a take on the trainers too.
Again, of course, mud came up a lot in these fan comments, considering Rispoli looked like he’d achieved his five o’clock shadow post-race owing to it, but, you know what they say, if you pray for the rains, you gotta deal with the mud too. And who knows, maybe Preakness will be a perfectly sunny day!
The post “Would like a rematch”: Fans Back Journalism Despite Kentucky Derby Loss As Jockey Gets Honest About Track Conditions appeared first on EssentiallySports.