Grade 2-winner Honor Marie adds blinkers as he enters off a rallying fourth in the Belmont Stakes for trainer Whit Beckman.
The Honor Code bay notched a two-length victory in last year’s Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Cub at Churchill Downs, and returned as a sophomore to run a respective fifth and second in the Grade 2 Risen Star and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby en route to a respectable eighth in the Kentucky Derby after a rocky start saw him trail in last-of-20 early. He endured a similar start in the Belmont before closing willingly under Florent Geroux to land 5 1/2 lengths back of Dornoch.
Beckman, who chases his first Grade 1, said racing fresh can be tricky business.
“It's a double-edged sword,” said Beckman. “In some ways, you'd like them to have that race cycle going into it but he's not a really big horse, and he's pretty easy to keep fit. The best thing we could get is a strong pace ahead of us and a fair track.”
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