DEL MAR — Umberto Rispoli waited nearly 11 months to ride Journalism again and then, well, let track announcer Larry Collmus describe it:

“They’re off in the San Diego Handicap and Journalism brushed the gate just as it opened, and he’s left behind the field. Journalism has been left behind about five lengths. … A disastrous start for the big favorite Journalism.”

“I won’t tell you the swear [word] that I throw out there,” Rispoli said.

“It just kind of took the starch out of everything,” said Aron Wellman, managing partner of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, co-owner of the 4-year-old colt.

Fortunately for Rispoli, Wellman and anyone else associated with Journalism, including the fans who bet him down to 1-5 odds Saturday at Del Mar Racetrack, this story ended much happier than it began.

Rispoli patiently guided Journalism back into close contact with the other four horses in the 1 1/16-mile race, swung him outside entering the stretch and the son of Curlin cruised to a victory — his first since the same Saturday a year ago in the Haskell at Monmouth Park.

In the ensuing 12 months, Journalism started four times and finished between second and fourth each time. He didn’t run poorly in any of the races; in fact, of the seven horses who beat him, five were Breeders’ Cup winners and a sixth won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont.

But when your resume includes not only the Haskell but also the Santa Anita Derby and Preakness, sometimes close isn’t good enough.

“Frustrating for sure,” Wellman said earlier in the week.

The San Diego Handicap presented the weakest field Journalism had faced since at least the 2025 Preakness, and his task seemed to get easier when Full Serrano, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner here in 2024, was withdrawn Saturday morning because of recurring foot problems.

But as Rispoli noted, “You can’t go in a race and think of course he’s [1-5]. You have to respect everybody in the field. Because you see, everything can happen in horse racing.”

Jockey Umberto Rispoli looks down at Journalism after riding the colt to victory in the San Diego Handicap on Saturday.

(Benoit Photo via Associated Press)

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Including your horse starting to move forward just before the gate opens, then hitting the side of the stall and spotting the field several lengths.

“I was concerned [with] the bad start, obviously,” Rispoli said. “But it wasn’t the first time I was in that situation. I know what I have underneath myself. I know what he’s capable of.”

The official margin was three-quarters of a length over the California-bred Shea Brennan, who was the longest shot in the short field at 23-1. Iron Man Cal, like the runner-up trained by Phil D’Amato, was third, with The Goat fourth and pacesetting Mirahmadi fading to last.

The final time was 1 minute, 42.65 seconds and Journalism, who paid $2.40 for his seventh win in 14 starts, earned $180,000 to push his career total to $4.77 million.

“Umberto did a good job of getting him to recover and his class won out,” winning trainer Michael McCarthy said.

And, given what Rispoli has been through, maybe Saturday was supposed to be difficult. The Italian jockey only recently resumed riding a few weeks ago after missing five months because of a fall in January at Gulfstream Park. He sustained a fractured right fibula and tibia, a displaced ankle and torn ligaments.

“I was in severe pain,” Rispoli said of his rehab, which included time spent at a specialist in Spain. “The first two weeks [in Spain], I said to myself, this is gonna be hard to do it. You know, I’m almost 38, first time a very hard accident happened to me. It was really bad.

“But this is what gave me the strength, horse racing. And I know I have a job incomplete … so I have to come back for this guy.”

I mentioned how humbling baseball can be in yesterday’s article. I was certainly humbled last night. Humbled might not even be the right word – instead, it probably should be incredibly frustrated. I had under 10.5 in the Royals and Padres game, and through nine innings, there were exactly six runs scored. Unfortunately, three were on each side, so it went to a 10th inning. In the top of the 10th, three runs crossed the plate. That pushed the total to 9, but I was still alive. In the bottom of the inning, the Royals scored four runs. A seven-run 10th inning, and the game goes over. About as brutal as it gets. Luckily, I won on the Reds, but that… was something. Let’s try to dodge that luck as the Rays take on the Red Sox.

Tampa Bay is one of the best teams in baseball, which isn’t all that shocking when you consider their franchise as a whole. They are 56-40 for the season with sole possession of first place in the division. The Rays have been hot all year, but I’d challenge almost any casual fan to name more than three players on the team. Junior Caminero is probably the most well-known, partially because he is an All-Star, and partially because he was almost injured in the All-Star Game.

You might be familiar with some of the starting pitchers for the staff, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t. The Rays are a bit unconventional at times with their rotation and arms. Today, they are sending out Ian Seymour to start the game, or maybe we should consider calling it opening the game? Seymour has 33 appearances and just six starts. It is normal for a guy to get stretched out and move from the bullpen to the rotation, but some are better left in the bullpen, and it seems like that might be the case for him. As a starter, he has allowed teams to hit .242 against him compared to just .197 as a reliever. The encouraging sign for the Rays is that in 18 at-bats against him, the Red Sox have not recorded a hit and struck out seven times.

RED SOX HAD A NIGHTMARE TRAVEL DAY FOR THE AGES, YET STILL FOUND A WAY TO BEAT THE METS IN NEW YORK

The Boston Red Sox looked like they were dead in the water just about a month ago. They were in last place in the division and looked like they were probably going to be sellers at the trade deadline. Perhaps it was just a very bad start. Maybe this team is better than we expected. Or, it is possible this was just a hot stretch, and they will end up falling back down the standings. A lot is still to be determined, but the club is finally clicking, and I know they are looking to ride that success as long as possible.

The Red Sox will send Patrick Sandoval to the hill today. This is just his second start of the season for the Red Sox, and he has no record with a 2.08 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. He has just 4.1 innings under his belt, so I’d be very surprised if I see him go deep into this game. It is possible, since yesterday was a doubleheader, that they need Sandoval to eat innings even if he pitches poorly. Rays hitters have faced him 28 times, but 17 of those have come from Yandy Diaz, who is just 3-for-17 against him. The other three players that have seen Sandoval before are a combined 2-for-11.

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I think this might be a game where you see some runs from both teams. Neither starter is going to strike fear into their opponent, exactly. However, I will at least give them credit for showing success against their opponent in the limited exposure. I do lean to the over at 9.5 for this game, but I think there is a better play.

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The Red Sox have won 11 straight games, but I don’t see them getting to 12. Boston should be very happy they’ve gotten all the way back to .500, but Tampa Bay is a very good team, and I actually think Seymour is more reliable than Sandoval in just his second start. Combine that with the Red Sox winning both games yesterday, and I think the Rays take this one. Give me Tampa Bay on the moneyline.

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The Son, as they say, will come out tomorrow.

Bet your bottom dollar that Son Heung-min, LAFC’s $26 million man — the record MLS fee for an incoming player — would peel himself off the mat and clear away the cobwebs and sorrows of the past few weeks and months.

He did it with a sizzling, right-footed goal in the 57th minute of LAFC’s 3-0 victory Friday over the Galaxy in the 27th rendition of El Tráfico and the first this year. Also, the first crosstown showdown of Son’s so-far, so-so tenure in L.A.

His arrival last August from Tottenham Hotspur in England’s Premier League was met with uncommon fanfare. Here came another global soccer icon to Major League Soccer — and to L.A., where the South Korean sensation was welcomed enthusiastically by a Korean diaspora that’s about 250,000 strong.

The first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot, Mayor Karen Bass spoke at Son’s introductory news conference. The Dodgers invited him to throw out the first pitch on Shohei Ohtani’s bobblehead night (and turned around this season and produced a bobblehead of Son throwing that pitch).

His first LAFC goal — a free kick over the wall in a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas — was named the MLS’s goal of the year. After notching 173 goals across all competitions with Tottenham Hotspur, he finished with nine goals in his first 10 regular-season appearances for LAFC.

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Then the scoring stopped. As if someone turned off the spigot.

Before Friday, Son recorded nine assists but no goals over 13 unlucky matches this season. He went 44 shots without striking a goal. And 237 days between goals, according to The Chosun Daily’s tally.

Yeah, just a bit of what his LAFC teammate Mark Delgado described as “a drought.”

Most painfully, Son also was shut out in South Korea’s disastrously short World Cup stay.

South Korea entered the tournament with the expectation that its “golden generation” – led by Son – would reach the knockout stage. But after it opened Group A with a 2-1 win over Czechia, the Koreans lost 1-0 to Mexico and 1-0 to South Africa and failed to qualify for the round of 32 as one of the eight best third-placed teams.

The uproar in South Korea that followed included the country’s president demanding an investigation.

Mexico’s Julián Quiñones and South Korea’s Son Heung-min vie for the ball during a World Cup match on June 18 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

(Ricardo Mazalan / Ap Photo/ricardo Mazalan)

For his part, a heartbroken Son shared a statement on Instagram: “I don’t dare to convey the disappointment and hurt of the fans with a single word ‘sorry.’ So even saying those words feels insufficient.”

It was impossible not to wonder: What the heck?

Where was the version of Son that everyone was celebrating a year ago?

How did the 34-year-old’s game decline so suddenly?

Was this a classic case of overpromising and underdelivering?

It still might be. LAFC — now 8-5-3 and third in MLS’s Western Conference — is going to face tougher competition in the days ahead than the work-in-progress Galaxy.

But on Friday, the center-forward was aggressive and in control. He took two shots in the first seven minutes, both blocked by defenders. He toyed with the Galaxy just before halftime, lining up to take a penalty before turning it over to Denis Bouanga, who scored to make it 2-0.

Then he and Delgado exchanged passes in the second half to set up Son’s first goal in darn near forever.

LAFC coach Marc Dos Santos gave Son 10 days off after the World Cup, but Son said he was eager to return to L.A., because he so enjoys the camaraderie of this club.

Those good vibes were on display when Son’s shot whizzed between two defenders and the outstretched arms of Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Micovic.

Son put his finger to his lips in the universal “shhh” sign and then did his patented camera celebration — click! — miming a snapshot. Because every goal is precious, and let’s be real, you never know when another will come.

LAFC’s Son Heung-Min celebrates after scoring what could be a breakthough goal against the rival Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson on Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

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Around him, the crowd and his colleagues went wild.

Dos Santos did some vein-popping flexing on the sideline. Mathieu Choinière pumped his fists as though he were operating a handcrank. Jacob Shaffelburg and Ryan Hollingshead flanked him on either side as though posing for a family photo. Son’s hair got tousled and nobody wearing black and gold could stop smiling.

“He deserves it, coming back from an emotional World Cup, and joining us right away,” Dos Santos said.

“He’s a great guy,” Delgado said. “He’s been in a bit of a goal drought, and, you know, we all want him to score. We all, he’s always smiling, and in training, he’s always scoring.

“And we’re like, ‘yeah, we need that, we need that!’ Trying to give him confidence,” Delgado continued. “And in games, he finally is getting that confidence back. So to see him score and put the ball in the net and just see his face light up with a smile is awesome. We all want to see him succeed here. We all want him to lead this club like we know he can.”

Now the goal is to keep the goals coming.

“Scoring the first goal of this season, I think it [will] help me,” Son said. “I think, definitely, going forward through the second part of the season. So, let’s keep going, and hope Wednesday [against Salt Lake] I can score another goal.”