Zipse: Honor Marie could be a Kentucky Derby Cinderella

Returning to the track where he found success as a juvenile, Honor Marie could be sitting on a big effort as a Kentucky Derby 2024 long shot.

Led by Fierceness and Sierra Leone, plenty of horses will be bet below the son of Honor Code on the first Saturday in May. His odds should be in the 20-1 range, which is pretty attractive for a horse who ended his 2023 season by winning the most important race for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs.

In fact, all three of Honor Marie’s races as a 2-year-old came under the famed twin spires, and all three were good.

Trained by Whit Beckman, he broke his maiden at first asking there in early fall and followed that up with a solid rallying second, splitting a pair of future stakes winners in a sloppy allowance race.

That was enough for his connections to give him a shot in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club on Thanksgiving weekend, and Honor Marie took advantage. Uncorking a strong late run in his first try around two turns, he rallied up the rail before swinging way wide to come from last and win going away.

In less than two weeks, he will look to become the eighth horse to run in the Kentucky Jockey Club and win the Kentucky Derby.

Accomplished at the host track of the Kentucky Derby, Honor Marie will offer juicy odds in the big race because he has yet to win yet as a 3-year-old. Pointing for the Kentucky Derby all along, though, he should be ready for his best performance of the year at just the right time.

He opened his 3-year-old campaign with an uninspiring fifth-place finish in the Risen Star (G2) on Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds, but the effort probably was better than it looks on paper.

First off, that prep won by Sierra Leone has proven to be the strongest of all prep races run this year. Inside and way back on the sloppy track early, Honor Marie showed good interest late to finish fifth in the loaded race.

The Blue Grass (G1), Louisiana Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial (G2) all have been won since by horses who finished ahead of him in the Risen Star.

His second start of the year came in the Louisiana Derby, and Honor Marie showed solid improvement in the 1 3/16-mile race. He once again came from well back, and this time he fell only one length short of victory when second to Catching Freedom.

Purchased for only $40,000 as a yearling, Honor Marie became the first graded-stakes winner for Beckman. But the 42-year-old Louisville native knows good horses, having worked as an assistant for Todd Pletcher, Eoin Harty and Chad Brown before opening his own stable in September 2021.

Although Beckman will be saddling his first starter in the Kentucky Derby, Honor Marie’s possible rider has even less experience in the U.S.

Ben Curtis rode the bay colt for the first time in the Louisiana Derby and is expected to retain the mount in two weeks. A 34-year-old Ireland native, Curtis moved his family to the U.S. last fall after a successful run in England. His first meet at Fair Grounds saw him finish fourth in the jockey standings.

With good horsemen around him, it now will come down to Honor Marie. Perhaps tipping his hand that he is a happy horse after returning to his home base, he got in his first workout after the Louisiana Derby on April 7 at Churchill Downs, breezing four furlongs in a fast 47.8 seconds.

As a son of the Grade 1 winner Honor Code, he is a grandson of Belmont winner and horse of the year A.P. Indy. On the female side, Honor Marie is the first stakes winner for the graded-stakes-placed Smart Strike mare Dame Marie. Both sides of his pedigree promise that the 10 furlongs of the Kentucky Derby will not be a problem.

All signs point to a good effort from Honor Marie in the Kentucky Derby. Making his third start of the year, he should be well prepared to run his best race yet as a 3-year-old.

If he can take another step forward in the six weeks between the Louisiana Derby and the Kentucky Derby while back at his favorite track, Honor Marie will be a major threat in the run for the roses.