Two weeks after entering the Kentucky Derby as the favorite yet finishing second, Journalism seemed defeated once more as he approached the final stretch of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, the second race in the Triple Crown series.

Initially lagging by as much as five lengths, Journalism was still behind Gosger at the beginning of the homestretch. He maneuvered between Clever Again and Goal Oriented, with the horses and their jockeys so close that they brushed against each other, before finally finding an opening. With jockey Umberto Rispoli pushing him onward, Journalism caught up to Gosger at the finish line, utilizing the full 1 3/16 miles of the track to secure a remarkable comeback win at the 150th Preakness at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course.

It was the second Preakness victory for Journalism’s trainer, Michael W. McCarthy, who previously won in 2021 with Rombauer.

Gosger finished second, with Sandman third.

“The horse is a champion,” said Aron Wellman, one of Journalism’s co-owners, during an NBC interview in the winner’s circle. “Our jockey Umberto Rispoli is a champion. Our trainer Michael McCarthy is a champion.”

Journalism outlasted eight other competitors, a small field that did not include Derby winner Sovereignty, after trainer Bill Mott withdrew the horse due to the short turnaround between races. It marked the third time in the last four years that the Derby winner skipped the Preakness. The Triple Crown, Mott said earlier this month, is “not something we’re not going to think about.”

It was the fifth time in the last seven years that the Preakness started without a true shot at the Triple Crown, a trend that had sparked a debate about whether the two-week turnaround between Triple Crown races had become antiquated. 

The field of nine horses was still anticipated as the trainers — including Bob Baffert and his record eight Preakness victories, and D. Wayne Lukas, who had won seven times at Pimlico over 44 years — had amassed a combined 19 previous Preakness victories. 

Journalism was still considered the favorite following the Derby, and opened with 8-5 odds Saturday morning. By race time, it had become an even bigger favorite at 6-5. Yet its path to victory was made difficult only a quarter of a mile in Saturday, as Clever Again led entering the first turn, followed closely by Gosger and River Thames, with Journalism sixth. Both Rispoli, the jockey, and McCarthy, the trainer, said in post-race interviews they believed their horse was in trouble and might run hard, only to come in second as at the Derby.

Yet Journalism was in first at the end, right on deadline.