Journalism produced a late surge to win the 150th Preakness Stakes at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course on May 17, turning what looked like another near miss into the defining victory of the colt’s career.

NBC News reported that Journalism, ridden by Umberto Rispoli, was still trailing by as many as five lengths before finding room in the stretch and running down Gosger at the post. The horse needed all of the race’s 1 3/16 miles to complete the comeback, after appearing beaten again following a disappointing runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier.

The win mattered for more than the horse itself. It gave trainer Michael W. McCarthy his second Preakness victory, after winning in 2021 with Rombauer. It also made Rispoli the first jockey from Italy to win a Triple Crown race, a milestone that places the victory in a wider sporting context beyond one afternoon at Pimlico.

The field was smaller than usual and did not include Derby winner Sovereignty, who was withdrawn because of the short turnaround between races. That absence had already shaped the Preakness narrative before the gates opened, as the race again lacked a true shot at the Triple Crown. Even so, the quality of the contest remained high enough to make Journalism’s late run stand out.

NBC’s account described a race in which Journalism’s path to the front was complicated from the start. The colt was sixth after the early stages, while Clever Again set the pace and Gosger stayed close. By the top of the homestretch, Journalism still seemed too far back to threaten. The opening in traffic, and the horse’s ability to accelerate once clear, were the difference between a defeat that looked certain and a finish that became memorable.

That final burst also confirmed how narrow the margins are in Triple Crown racing. Journalism had entered the Preakness as a favorite and had been seen as one of the class horses in the field, but being the horse to beat did not guarantee a clean run. McCarthy said afterward that he had already prepared himself for defeat before the final charge changed the picture. Rispoli and co-owner Aron Wellman both framed the horse as a champion after the race.

Gosger finished second and Sandman third. Those placings matter because they show this was not a chaotic upset but a hard-fought race won by the horse that proved best when it counted. Journalism’s reputation had already been built on resilience, but the Preakness win added a different kind of credibility: the ability to recover from trouble and still deliver in the final furlong.

The result also fed into the longer conversation around the modern Triple Crown schedule. NBC noted that the race again started without a legitimate chance at the full sweep, a pattern that has prompted questions about whether the two-week gap between classics remains appropriate. Journalism’s victory did not solve that debate, but it provided a vivid example of why the Preakness can still produce memorable drama even in a year without a Triple Crown bid.

For McCarthy, Rispoli and the colt’s owners, the race offered something simpler and more valuable than a policy debate: a major stakes win after a long spring of pressure and disappointment. In a race that seemed to have slipped away, Journalism found the narrowest possible lane and turned it into a historic finish.