Journalism favored in Belmont Stakes at Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Monday’s post position draw for Saturday’s 157th running of the Belmont Stakes on a sunny yet comfortable afternoon served as a strong kickoff for an event-packed week in this bucolic upstate city, hosting thoroughbred horse racing’s final leg of the Triple Crown for the second straight year as the namesake Belmont Park is reconstructed.

There’s been no official announcement from the New York Racing Association yet, but with Belmont Park’s expected timeline for reopening set for September 2026, it certainly seems likely Saratoga Race Course will again host the Belmont Stakes next year.

“I believe they’ll run the Belmont here next year again,” said Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, whose Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby and will face a rematch in the Belmont with Preakness winner Journalism. “I have no proof of that or any reason to believe that other than I think that they’d be pressed to have Belmont [Park] ready in time.”

The Michael McCarthy-trained Journalism drew the seventh post in the eight-horse field for the 1 1⁄4 -mile race and was installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite in the draw conducted at Universal Preservation Hall, a renovated church first constructed in 1871 — or eight years after Saratoga Race Course opened.

Sovereignty drew post No. 2 at 2-1 odds while Baeza — trained by John Shirreffs, a Hall of Fame finalist this year — will break from post No. 6 with 4-1 odds. Hall of Famer Bob Baffert’s Rod-riguez drew post No. 3 and 6-1 odds.

“With eight horses, I wasn’t too concerned about the draw,” said jockey Saffie Osborne, who will be aboard 30-1 Heart of Honor — trained by her father, Jamie Osborne — breaking from post No. 8.

“I thought, being a small field of eight horses, I was going to be happy with whatever post position we got,” Mott said. “I don’t think it’s a big issue.”

There are, of course, numerous differences between running the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course as compared to Belmont Park. The most obvious is that the race has been shortened by a quarter mile being run at the smaller track. Belmont Park’s main track goes 1 1⁄2 miles around with wide, sweeping turns.

But, with just eight horses, traffic should not be the same problem as it was when Sovereignty outraced 18 other horses in the Kentucky Derby or Journalism’s jockey Umberto Rispoli navigated his horse from behind and through traffic to beat eight other horses in the Preakness.

And there’s also a huge difference being near the Adirondacks as compared to being near the Cross Island Parkway.

“Saratoga is that special place,” Shirreffs said. “Horses love it. For us, it’s a place where it’s the first time for them to be out amongst the trees and get that kind of faraway look. So, there’s always something different to do here. We can go to Oklahoma [the training track]. We can go over to the main track. We can walk in the back on the grass. It gives the horses a lot of different opportunities to maybe express themselves a little differently.”

Last year, 17-1 Dornoch, co-owned by former Phillies All-Star outfielder Jayson Werth, broke from post No. 6 with Luis Saez aboard to give trainer Danny Gargan his first Triple Crown victory in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000.

The reviews that day for the Belmont at Saratoga were good.

That remained the same on Monday.

“Saratoga itself is a magical place,” McCarthy said. “It’s wonderful that there’s a facility like Saratoga to go ahead and replace Belmont under reconstruction. It’s a great racing town with a lot of history here. I look forward to participating here.”

Rispoli, who like Sovereignty jockey Junior Alvarado will be sponsored by Hildebrandt’s in Williston Park, is based in California. He rode at Saratoga only once, in 2019.

“Look, it’s a beautiful track, an amazing track,” Rispoli said. “They did a great job when we worked the horse on Sunday because there was so much rain on Saturday, we were thinking it would be incapable to work with the horse. Credit to them, they did an amazing job. Obviously going from a mile and a half to a mile and a quarter, it’s a difference.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.