Horse Racing
2024 Belmont Stakes Contenders: HONOR MARIE
The 156th Belmont Stakes (G1) is Saturday, June 8, at Saratoga Race Course. The 1 ¼-mile race, shortened from 1 ½ miles due to the change of venue as the Belmont Park rebuild continues, is the final leg of the Triple Crown. usracing.com is publishing profiles of the contenders.
Disregard his eighth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, where he was basically eliminated 50 yards into the race. Here are the Equibase chart’s footnotes: “Jostled hard early between rivals … caught in traffic and steadied into the first turn.”
Honor Marie. Coady Photo.
After an eighth-place Derby finish, Honor Marie skipped the Preakness in favor of the Belmont at Saratoga
As trainer Whit Beckman said, “Our shot was pretty much blown there. I don’t think we got 50 yards in the race to run clear or free.”
Honor Marie did well to be eighth, beaten 13 lengths, a running line that will make most handicappers throw him out in the Belmont. Two wins at Churchill Downs and a bullet workout there made him a wise-guy pick in the Derby, where he went off at 14-1 odds. Expect them to be higher this weekend.
“Despite that tough trip in the Derby, he popped out of that race in fantastic order,” Beckman said. “With less horses in the Belmont, I feel like this horse is a very good closer and can run with the best 3-year-olds in the country.”
As a May foal with only six starts, Honor Marie is eligible to improve, but his speed figures are nothing special. Like probable favorite Sierra Leone, he’s a late runner, but he was 6¼ lengths behind the Derby runner-up in their only meeting. He’s 0-for-3 this year, with his best effort a second to Catching Freedom (fourth in the Derby, third in the Preakness).
Honor Marie might win a stakes this year, but that’s unlikely to happen in “the Test of the Champion.”
Betting advice: Everything must go right for Honor Marie to contend in the Belmont. If you can’t resist his double-digit odds, play him $2 across the board.
Post position: TBD
Odds: TBD
Jockey: Florent Geroux
Trainer: Whit Beckman
Owners: Ribble Farms, Michael Eisenman, Earl Silver, Kenneth Fishbein, Dave Fishbein
Career record: 6-2-2-0
Career earnings: $526,175
Most recent race: Kentucky Derby, May 4 (8th)
Top Equibase speed figure: 98
Pedigree: Honor Code-Dame Marie, by Smart Strike
Color: Bay
Running style: Deep closer
Notes: The talented Florent Geroux replaces jockey Ben Curtis, who suffered a broken collarbone May 18 in a training accident in the starting gate at Delaware Park … The injury continued a run of bad luck for Honor Marie’s connections. Beckman was ill before and during Derby week, when he was hospitalized for five days because of a blood infection that affected his kidneys … Honor Marie breezed 5 furlongs in 1:00 2/5 Saturday (May 25) at Churchill.
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