What we learned: How Honor Marie wins the Ky. Jockey Club

Honor Marie made his debut on the Kentucky Derby trail a winning one when he took the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs for trainer Whit Beckman and owner Ribble Farms. Although his win came as a minor surprise, in retrospect two important factors led to the victory in his graded-stakes debut. 

The clustered field on the far turn and his pedigree both helped Honor Marie pull off the Derby-prep win. Here is a short recap of the race. 

The 17-1 long shot Nomos set the pace while under pressure from Stretch Ride through fractions 23.70 and 48.45 for the 1 1/16-mile race. At that point, Honor Marie was trailing the field in eighth. But the field clustered together into a group, so he only had to circle the field from a little more than five lengths behind.

Nomos quit on the far turn. As Awesome Road, One Red Cent and Stretch Ride now vied for the lead, Honor Marie went forward and tipped outside the bunched-up field with about a length or two to make up on the lead.

Under urging from jockey Rafael Bejarano, Honor Marie continued his rally in the stretch and moved past Stretch Ride and Real Men Violin to hit the front. After Stretch Ride and Real Men Violin was a sizable gap back to Risk It in fourth, which works as a good sign for Honor Marie, Stretch Ride and Real Men Violin because it hints they were on a different level than the rest. 

In the end, Honor Marie won by two lengths over Real Men Violin in second, and Stretch Ride lost second by another length in third.

Honor Marie completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.31. The final time resulted in a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

One race before the Kentucky Jockey Club, Intricate won the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) for 2-year-old fillies at the same distance in 1:45.01. Honor Marie's final time beat Intricate’s time by more than a half-second.  

Now to discuss the Honor Marie’s pedigree.

Because Honor Marie's sire is Honor Code, that makes his grandsire A.P. Indy, who is one of the greatest stamina influences in breeding. Nearly all of the A.P. Indy-related sires end up siring routers as well, or at least miler types depending on the type of dam they get paired with.     

On the bottom, Honor Marie’s dam Dame Marie made all 18 career starts in turf routes and won $241k in the process. For her last race, she ran second in the 2014 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) before being retired after that effort.

Honor Marie’s damsire Smart Strike has sired many successful routers himself, such as the 2007 and 2008 horse of the year Curlin. But more important, Smart Strike has been the damsire of two Kentucky Derby champions, Mine That Bird in 2009 and Rich Strike last year.

With all that stamina in his blood, it comes as no surprise Honor Marie loved the stretchout from seven furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. Only his overall class and speed were in question, as he had just a maiden win and runner-up in a local optional-claiming allowance race over slop to his credit.

Honor Marie’s win in the Kentucky Jockey Club at 8-1 came as a result of getting the right situation on the far turn with the bunched-up field and thriving on the stretchout because of route blood on both sides of the tree. He could thrive even more on the trail when the distances become longer.

Real Men Violin and Stretch Ride put in good efforts as well. Stretch Ride was the only pace horse to stick around late, although the two horses near him early, Nomos and One Red Cent, were double-digit long shots.

As for the favorite and blog choice Awesome Road, he threw in another clunker and faded to fifth by 10 1/2 lengths after making a threatening move on the far turn. Awesome Road works great in the mornings, but he does not seem to match those works when he runs in the afternoon.

Given the second bad race in a row, Awesome Road needs to prove himself in his next one. Another set of good workouts will not end up as convincing.

In all likelihood, Honor Marie will progress on the Derby trail. Although closers run at the mercy of the pace scenario and traffic, he has ability and might succeed on talent even in bad scenarios. The son of Honor Code does need to improve and become faster, as they all do, but right now he has the potential to become a major player in this division.