Kentucky Derby 2024: Honor Marie is a family affair

Tommy Lynch and his wife, Marietta, have guided scores of handicappers to winners through Inside Connection, a tip sheet covering Oaklawn and Louisiana Downs that they have published without fail since the early 1980’s.

The best advice the Arkansas couple ever gave, though, had nothing to do with Inside Connection. It came in the form of the advice they gave to their daughter, Kerry, and their son-in-law, Alan Ribble, when they told them, “Y’all ought to get you a horse.”

Kerry and Alan already were so passionate about racing that one day of their honeymoon was spent at Louisiana Downs. The thought of owning a racehorse quickly gained steam. Alan took the plunge when he told his wife that, as a Christmas present in 2015, he would claim a horse in their behalf.

They enjoyed the claiming game for a number of years with trainer David Vance, so much so that they developed a plan to step up their game with the hope of landing a “Saturday” horse. No one ever imagined that the “Saturday” horse would be $40,000 yearling purchase Honor Marie and that the Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up would be capable of running on the first Saturday in May. In the 150th Kentucky Derby. With a puncher’s chance.

It is all beyond their wildest dreams.

“I’m not sure we encouraged them to get in at this level,” Tommy said, “but we certainly encouraged them to get into the horse world.”

Kerry, during a phone interview from Louisville, recalled how family members would gather to watch past Derbies on television. “It seemed like an untouchable area,” she said. “Now that we’re in the middle of it, it’s just amazing.”

“Amazing” also might describe the relationship between Tommy and Marietta, sweethearts since their days at Little Rock Central High School, as they raised five children. Both are 86. They have been married for 68 years.

Coming out of high school, they thought Tommy might make the major leagues after he signed a $5,000 bonus with the New York Giants. “We thought we were rich,” Marietta said.

That was not to be. Marietta eventually turned to teaching while Tommy scrutinized past performances and built Inside Connection into a must-have tool for some horseplayers in a game that was much more popular then.

Kerry recalled that her father would wake up early to buy the Daily Racing Form. He painstakingly kept file cards on different runners and would deliver his tip sheet to various outlets in addition to the tracks it served. He maintained that route until the pandemic struck.

“I just have always been around horse talk,” she said of their home in Magnolia, Ark. “It was just maybe in my blood and that evolved into buying horses.”

Admittedly with some fits and starts, Tommy and Marietta moved into the computer age with Inside Connection. The octogenarians intend to keep publishing it as long as they are able.

“This is something that has kept us going,” Marietta said. “When you get older, you worry about your mental ability.”

Although both have endured significant hearing loss and will not travel to Louisville for the Derby, they remain mentally sharp and are relishing every moment of the ride Honor Marie is taking them on.

“This is the most unbelievable situation we’ve ever been in,” Tommy said. “It’s almost as if it’s happening to us.”

Honor Marie has won two of five starts with a pair of second-place finishes for trainer Whit Beckman for earnings of $526,175. The long shot son of Honor Code may merit consideration because of the affinity he has shown for Churchill Downs. He made his first three starts beneath the twin spires, breaking his maiden at first asking and then putting himself on the Derby trail by winning the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2). A rally that left him one length behind Catching Freedom in the 1 3/16-mile Louisiana Derby on March 23 suggests he will get the classic mile-and-a-quarter distance, a critical issue for every starter.

So how does Inside Connection see the Derby? Tommy and Marietta expect to take a stand against the top choice, Fierceness, but are not sure who they will select. They intend to list Honor Marie second.

“I would put Honor Marie on top in our selections except I don’t want to jinx him,” Tommy said.

Horseplayers surely understand.