Greatest Honour jumps on Derby trail with Holy Bull win

It took Greatest Honour four tries to break his maiden, but only one stakes start to launch himself into the Kentucky Derby conversation.

The 3-year-old Tapit colt was a convincing winner Saturday of Gulfstream Park’s Grade 3, $200,000 Holy Bull Stakes for trainer Shug McGaughey. Greatest Honour covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.19 and paid $7.60 as the 5-2 second betting choice.

“As I told my wife, I said, ‘The pressure begins now,’” said McGaughey, winner of the 2013 Kentucky Derby with Orb.

Greatest Honour earned 10 points on the Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby with his Holy Bull score. Also earning Derby points were second-through-fourth place finishers Tarantino (four points), Prime Factor (two) and Papetu (one).

McGaughey entered Greatest Honour in the Holy Bull off a local maiden win at the same 1 1/16-mile distance Dec. 26. Prior to that victory, the colt hit the board in three maiden races last fall on the NYRA circuit but could not break through for a win.

Greatest Honour was installed as the Holy Bull’s morning-line favorite but by post time, bettors’ attention drifted toward Prime Factor, a debut winner Dec. 12 at Gulfstream. He went off Saturday as the even-money favorite for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Prime Factor broke sharply and took early position near the front of the field, while jockey Jose Ortiz had Greatest Honour sitting seventh of nine. Willy Boi set the early pace, going 23.28 and 46.97 for the opening panels.

Coming through the turn, Prime Factor moved up three-wide alongside Willy Boi and Tarantino, while Greatest Honour charged all the way up four-wide to join the fray.

Greatest Honour made that four-way battle one that was short-lived. He flew on by the group and cruised on to win by a 5 3/4-length margin over Tarantino.

"Honestly, when I put myself four wide in the clear, I showed him the whip one time and from that point I knew I was going to have a really, really good shot to win," Ortiz said. "When we got to the quarter pole, I knew I had it.”

Gulfstream’s Kentucky Derby trail continues Feb. 27 with the $300,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles and the $750,000 Florida Derby (G1) on March 27 at 1 1/8 miles.

“Our idea would be the Fountain of Youth,” McGaughey said, "but if we think we need to wait a little bit, he’s not going to be a hard horse for me to have ready for the Florida Derby. A mile-and-an-eighth is going to suit him even better than a mile-and-a-sixteenth.”

Greatest Honour was bred in Kentucky by owner Courtlandt Farm. He now sports a 5: 2-1-2 record with nearly $200,000 in earnings.