Newspaperofrecord

Newspaperofrecord at the 2018 Breeders' Cup

As a two-year-old Newspaperofrecord was campaigned exclusively on turf and was ridden in all three of her races by Irad Ortiz Jr. The filly made her debut in a maiden special weight over eight and a half furlongs at Saratoga Race Course on August 19. Starting the 3-2 favourite in a ten-runner field she raced in second place before taking the lead in the last quarter mile and "scampered" away from her rivals to win by almost seven lengths.[6] On September 30 over the same distance the filly was stepped up in class for the Grade II Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park and started favourite against eight opponents. She took the lead from the start, accelerated away from field in the closing stages and came home six and a half lengths clear of Varenka.[7] Ortiz commented "Our plan was try to relax her and finish, but she broke so sharp, and I didn't take anything away. She put me right there and made the lead so easy. She was relaxed on the lead, so I took it, and it was good for us. She was relaxed the whole way".[8]

At Churchill Downs on November 2, Newspaperofrecord was one of fourteen fillies to contest the 11th running of the Grade I Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She was made the 4-5 favourite ahead of the Irish filly Just Wonderful (winner of the Rockfel Stakes) while the other runners included East (Prix Thomas Bryon), Concrete Rose (Jessamine Stakes), La Pelosa (Natalma Stakes) and Lily's Candle (Prix Marcel Boussac). After taking the lead from the start, Newspaperofrecord kicked away from her rivals in the straight and won by six and three quarter lengths from East.[9] After the race Chad Brown said "She showed her class today, her brilliance. She's a hard horse to beat because she has that good positional front-running speed and then she kicks for home like a closer. What a freaky horse!".[10]

Newspaperofrecord made her three-year-old debut on May 5 at Churchill Downs in the Edgewood Stakes. Run at one mile and one sixteenth on turf labelled as "firm", Newspaperofrecord started from the inside post and was made the odds on favorite. She broke on top and held a commanding lead into the far turn, leading by as much as six lengths entering the home stretch. However, she slowed down in the final furlong and was easily run down by Concrete Rose, who had won three of her previous four races, but who had finished 8th in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf.[11]

Newspaperofrecord made her next start in the Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont, where she again went to the early lead only to be passed in late stretch to finish second. Brown felt that because of her front-running style, she might be "getting a little lost when she's so alone" turning into the stretch.[12] In her next start on July 6 in the Belmont Oaks Invitational, he asked Ortiz to try to get her to rate behind the front runners. However, Newspaperofrecord became rank and ran wide into the first turn, then veered even wider down the backstretch, interfering with several of the other horses. She finished last behind Concrete Rose.[13]

Newspaperofrecord was given a long layoff then returned on June 6, 2020 in the Intercontinental Stakes, run at a distance of seven furlongs over a yielding turf course at Belmont. She dueled briefly for the early lead with Jakarta, running a quick opening quarter mile in 22.39 seconds. Once Jakarta dropped back into stalking position, Newspaperofrecord relaxed maintained a small advantage over the rest of the field around the turn and then opened up down the stretch to win by 3+3⁄4 lengths.[14]