![\"Journalism](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Haskell-1024x851.jpg\")
UMBERTO RISPOLI, JOURNALISM \/ G1 Haskell Invitational \/\/ Monmouth Park \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Equi-Photo\/Bill Denver courtesy of Monmouth Park<\/p>\nUMBERTO RISPOLI has taken knocks before. He paid his dues and earned his keep in the cutthroat arena of Hong Kong, the horse racing equivalent of crossing the unforgiving last-man-standing competition of Rome\u2019s gladiatorial games with the political manoeuvring of the Medici court \u2013 he knows well enough what it means to lose rides, the feelings that come when you\u2019re jocked off.<\/p>\n
His kids don\u2019t. At ages three and eight, they have been living the Journalism story: trackside at Triple Crown races, suited and booted in the colours of the horse\u2019s silks for each race, their outfits chosen carefully by their mother, Kimberley. The horse and the journey was a core part of their young lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the hardest part, to have to tell my wife and kids that I won\u2019t be riding the horse,\u201d Rispoli tells Idol Horse. \u201cMy kids 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
\u201cSome jockeys reached out and that was very kind of them, lifting my morale from Australia to America and everywhere saying keep your head up, move forward, go forward, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
But to be removed from Journalism \u2013 as he was last weekend, two weeks before the G1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic \u2013 the horse that has raised his profile more than any other, that\u2019s a tough hit, a hard blow to take: an \u2018Ides of March\u2019 moment in his career.<\/p>\n
And from a man raised in Naples \u2013 that hot-blooded city pressed between sea and volcanic arc, with Mount Vesuvius to the east and the sulphurous Phlegraean Fields to the west \u2013 a fiery response might be expected.<\/p>\n
Rispoli, though, has seen enough in his life and career to know that sometimes the fire needs to be dampened, even when the blow stings the private emotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is not much I can do, I have to accept it,\u201d he says. \u201cI 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 37 years old, so when I was younger this would have felt like a head shot, but now, at my age, with the experiences I have had, it feels like a body shot and I can take that. I have to look forward, move on and be focussed on the people that have given me 100 percent confidence to ride their horses: I can\u2019t be focused on a horse I\u2019ve been taken off. I\u2019m going to watch Journalism\u2019s race, of course I am; I\u2019ll be there; I care that I\u2019m not riding him, but what happens in that race is not my concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rispoli\u2019s partnership with Journalism spanned nine of the colt\u2019s 10 races, stretching back to his third place on debut at Santa Anita on October 27 last year. Horse and rider enjoyed high-profile wins in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity, the G1 Santa Anita Derby that ignited the Triple Crown dream, his G1 Preakness Stakes that gave the Italian his first Triple Crown race yet drew criticism, and the G1 Haskell Stakes in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do this job because I love it,\u201d Rispoli says. \u201cI want to wake up every day to be part of horses like Journalism and I\u2019m still thankful to (the connections) that they enabled me and my family to live this: travelling all around for the Triple Crown campaign; living the week of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont; having the family with me. For that I say thank you, I have to say thank you: I\u2019ve been part of it, part of all those beautiful things. I wish this wasn\u2019t the end but it\u2019s out of my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all the good times, there were defeats behind Sovereignty in the G1 Kentucky Derby and G1 Belmont Stakes; there was the much-debated Preakness win in which Rispoli rode Journalism through a tight gap to seal success \u2013 a brave, effective run to some, foolhardy to others \u2013 and last time when second to Fierceness in the G1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the line, the ownership group of Eclipse Thoroughbreds, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta, Elayne Stables Five, the Coolmore Partners and trainer Michael McCarthy started to think about changing their rider and ultimately opted for Jose Ortiz instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI move on, I don\u2019t have time to cry for myself, I have to be focused on all the Breeders\u2019 Cup mounts I have and all the other races I have. I can\u2019t have it working through my brain,\u201d Rispoli says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me two weeks from the race. If it had been the week of the race, you\u2019d have to work harder on yourself to forget about it, but I wish they\u2019d announced it right away (after the last race) to be honest, I wish I would have known earlier. But two weeks is enough to regroup, to work on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
UMBERTO RISPOLI, JOURNALISM \/ G1 Haskell Invitational \/\/ Monmouth Park \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Equi-Photo\/Bill Denver courtesy of Monmouth Park<\/p>\n
Racing is riddled with such decisions. But that doesn\u2019t make them easy to make or to take.<\/p>\n
Rispoli knows for himself the agonising difficulty that comes with decision-making and the effects those choices might have. He has had to make a big one of his own going into this Breeders\u2019 Cup: whether to stay true to his old ally Johannes or cement his partnership with another talented comrade, the rising force that is Formidable Man.<\/p>\n
Both horses are entered in the G1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Mile a week Saturday; both are his rides. He has chosen Johannes and while he speaks of the importance of his own loyalty to the horse he rode to second place in last year\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Cup Mile, the loyalty of the horse\u2019s trainer Tim Yakteen to him, and most of all the loyalty of the supportive owners, Joe and Debby McCloskey, he is also grappling with the emotions that come from knowing the loyalty Formidable Man\u2019s owner William Warren has given him has been true, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough choice for me to choose between Johannes and Formidable Man,\u201d Rispoli admits. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve had such a good connection with a horse like Johannes, you can\u2019t run him down. Of course, Formidable Man is a rising star, he\u2019s six for six at Del Mar, he never got beat there, he\u2019s a horse that is improving race by race, but when you ride a horse that has proven himself already on the biggest stage against international horses\u2026 plus when you have come a long way with his owners, Joe McCloskey and his wife Debby, you know, and Tim Yakteen, you\u2019ve been part of the journey for a long time and you just have to follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Formidable Man has won three of his last four starts, including his last two, the G2 Eddie Read Stakes and G2 Del Mar Mile at the Breeders\u2019 Cup venue. Johannes has come back off a seven-month injury lay-off to run ninth in the G1 Fourstardave Stakes at Saratoga on August 2, but bounced back to win his second G2 City Of Hope Mile at Santa Anita 25 days later.<\/p>\n
Rispoli says Saratoga was a run to forget \u201ca horrendous trip\u201d with a bump out of the gate, squeezed at the first turn, shuffled to last \u2026 \u201crace over\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had to start somewhere and it was a Grade 1 across the country,\u201d he says. \u201cYou come back after six or seven months in a Grade 1, well, you can be a really great horse but still everything has to be perfect to come back from injury and win a race like that. It didn\u2019t happen for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came back home, we regrouped, the horse worked back and the other day he won again in an impressive way. The pace was slow at Santa Anita, the race was a little bit against him when it became tactical with not many horses in the race, but it was a run full of energy. On the backside, I was running on top of Cabo Spirit and when I turned for home, I think it was his fastest stretch, so that means there is something left in that tank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year Johannes went into the Breeders\u2019 Cup Mile off four consecutive wins. He entered the home straight ahead of the big European challenger Notable Speech and kicked. But at the very moment he had the Godolphin runner\u2019s measure, with the winning post less than 10 strides away, More Than Looks swept over the top to steal the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re looking for redemption,\u201d he says and admits that this is \u201cabsolutely\u201d a big factor in his decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be exactly the same if it was the other way around, if Johannes was the rising star coming up and I\u2019d finished second on Formidable Man last year with that campaign, I don\u2019t think you really want to change. At the end of the day, I have to make the decision so I can\u2019t listen to everyone saying he wins this race faster than the other one, or he runs this number faster than the other one.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a jockey, I have to make the decision. My agent (Matt Nakatani) will ask which one do you want to ride, because in these big races I have to make the decision; if I get beat, well I\u2019m the one who chose and I have to blame myself if I get it wrong, I don\u2019t want to blame anybody else. If I make a mistake it\u2019s going to be my mistake but it will have come from the bottom of my heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Warren, Formidable Man\u2019s owner, he has been loyal to me. But Johannes was in the picture before. I wish I hadn\u2019t had the decision to make but it\u2019s better to have that decision to make than not.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably will be one of Johannes\u2019 last races, who knows? But I want to close that circle and if it\u2019s possible to close it with a Breeders\u2019 Cup win, well that will be an amazing story to tell one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Johannes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Johannes-1024x705.jpg\")
JOHANNES, UMBERTO RISPOLI \/ G2 San Gabriel Stakes \/\/ Santa Anita \/\/\/ 2024 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Keith Birmingham<\/p>\n
The story is important to Rispoli, who as the son of a track work rider, Gaetano Rispoli, was raised in Naples\u2019 notorious Vele di Scampia harbouring a boyhood ambition to become a jockey and ride in the world\u2019s great races.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s already a privilege to be part of the Breeders\u2019 Cup weekend,\u201d he says. I\u2019ve been dreaming of it since I was a kid and since I\u2019ve been in the United States I\u2019ve been part of the Breeders\u2019 Cup five years in a row. It\u2019s a win to be there and have horses to ride and have people who have 100 percent confidence in me to put me on their horses.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the McCarthy-trained Meaning, a juvenile filly Rispoli won on at Los Alamitos for Eclipse Thoroughbreds, will not be among his rides after he was told Tuesday his services were not required for her either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be more loyalty and respect for jockeys, that\u2019s the only message I have,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Still, he is looking forward to a solid Breeders\u2019 Cup book that includes Dr Venkman in the Sprint or the Dirt Mile, Gold Phoenix in the Turf, Mission Of Joy in the Filly And Mare Turf, Majestic Oops in the Distaff, Later Than Planned in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, and AMO Racing\u2019s Irish raider Buccanero Fuerte in the Turf Sprint.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost horses will be a long shot but to win races you have to run them first, and to me, this is a passion,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, the disappointment of losing the ride on Journalism, it\u2019s not the fact that I think the value of the Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic is seven million so if (Journalism) wins I will lose 10 percent, no, no, because money doesn\u2019t last. When I wake up in the morning, in all the 20 years of my career, I wake up and I go to work because I want my name to be engraved in the story of this sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what I\u2019m looking for. Imagine what it feels like if the horse is going out to win that race without your name on it. It\u2019s not the money: when you think about money, you forget the value of life, the value of the person, you forget the respect, you forget the loyalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the story,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s about your name in the story.\u201d \u220e<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n Umberto Rispoli Recounts His Route To Preakness Victory<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/HKIR_HKTB_final_R3-1895X566_ENJP_R2-1024x306.jpg\")
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