Belmont 2024: Beckman hopes Honor Marie gets a better shot

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trainer Whit Beckman looks forward to seeing Honor Marie’s true capabilities in the Belmont Stakes, knowing that did not happen in the Kentucky Derby.

“With a trip, he’s going to be a horse to contend with,” said Beckman, eagerly awaiting Saturday’s 1 1/4-mile contest at Saratoga.

Honor Marie and jockey Ben Curtis endured a hellish trip in the 20-horse Derby. The race chart tells the awful tale for anyone who backed the star-crossed colt. “Honor Marie was jostled hard early between rivals, settled toward the inside, was caught in traffic and steadied into the first turn, leveled into stride while saving ground, moved up on the second turn, veered out sharply inside the three-sixteenths and boxed on willingly.”

As well as it went for triumphant Mystik Dan, could it have gone any worse for Honor Marie?

“He was ready to go,” Beckman said of his first Derby. “He just didn’t get the chance to show it.”

The Louisville native knew his hopes were dashed almost from the start. “When you see it happen out of the gate, it’s a quick acceptance of what can happen in a 20-horse field,” he said. “For me, it was just an appreciation of the experience from then on.”

The latter comment reflects Beckman’s vast experience. He has not been training on his own for very long, putting together his first full season in 2022, but few trainers just starting out can match his resume.

He was an understudy to Todd Pletcher from 2007 to 2013, journeyed to Saudi Arabia for a year, returned to work for Eion Harty for the next year and a half, spent another half a year in Saudi Arabia and then assisted Chad Brown from 2016 to 2021.

Through all of that, he has seen and done pretty much everything.

“You pick up something from everyone and kind of splice it together, whatever works for you,” Beckman said. “It seems when you do apply what you gained, you get results and end up in races like this.”

More than anything, he has been careful in his spacing of races for the distance-loving bay son of Honor Code out of the Smart Strike mare Dame Marie. The former $40,000 yearling purchase has compiled a 6: 2-2-0 record while piling up $526,175 in earnings.

The colt was not asked to travel as a juvenile, recording three starts at Churchill Downs. He made a winning debut Sept. 29 at six furlongs at his home base, then placed second in a seven-furlong optional-claiming allowance race there before being given his first graded-stakes opportunity. He capitalized on that, capturing the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) by two lengths beneath the twin spires.

Honor Marie was given time off until a fifth-place effort to victorious Belmont rival Sierra Leone in the loaded Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 17. He showed how much he welcomes ground when he missed by only a length in the 1 3/16-mile Louisiana Derby (G2).

Beckman said of his careful handling of Honor Marie, “He’s always been very sound. He’s just not one of those pretty, fluid movers, so I let him dictate what happens. He’s not a big, huge horse. He’s a lighter-framed horse, so I just think training-wise he puts himself there. It’s not something I’m forcing on him.”

Beckman will always be convinced the 3-year-old was primed for a big Derby. “In his pattern, he was ready to pop,” he said. “He just didn’t get the opportunity.”

Honor Marie was fortunate to come away from the 20-horse fray unscathed. “Physically, he wasn’t banged up. No bumps or bruises or any injuries,” the trainer said. “Actually, just days after the race he really started thriving.”

In preparing for the Belmont, the Honor Code colt worked every week for three weeks at Churchill Downs, beginning with a four-furlong drill in 49.20 seconds May 18. Then came a five-furlong move in 1:01.40 and a four-furlong drill in 48.40 June 1.

Florent Geroux replaces Curtis, who is sidelined with a broken collarbone suffered in a recent training accident at Delaware Park. Honor Marie will break from post 8 and is listed at 12-1 on the morning line.

When asked what kind of trip he is looking for this time, Beckman responded, “No contact when the gate opens. I want Flo and that horse to be comfortable with wherever they are.”

He is more than willing to take his chances after that.