Honor D Lady rolls to 5 1/2-length win in Delaware Handicap

Honor D Lady cruised to a 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2, $500,125 Delaware Handicap on Sunday at Delaware Park.

The 4-year-old daughter of Honor Code gave her jockey Jose Ortiz his fourth victory in the filly-and-mare race, equaling the record set by Angel Cordero Jr., who won in 1968, 1974, 1981 and 1987. Ortiz previously won with Belle Gallantey in 2014 and Elate in 2018 and 2019.

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Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Honor D Lady returned $6.20 as the second choice in the field of seven.

Saddle Up Jessie, with Sheldon Russell, finished second, a half-length in front of the even-money favorite Wet Paint with Flavien Prat.

Abundancia with Julio Hernandez cut early fractions of 24.07 seconds for the quarter-mile and 49:67 for the half-mile before fading to sixth.

The final time was 1:59.86 for the 1 3/16 miles over the fast main track.

“I rode her one time already, and we won,” Ortiz said. “Saffie told me you have the 2 hole, so try to break clean, try to find your way outside, do not give too much to do, and keep close to the pace, but at the end of the day you ride her how you want.  That is what I tried to do, and I am glad it worked out. When I hit the three-eighths pole, she kind of moved about two jumps before I wanted, so I had to kind of grab her and take a little momentum away from her, but I was sitting on a lot of horse.”

This was the second win of the year for Honor D Lady from four starts.  The Kentucky-bred trained filly won the Royal Delta (G3) on Feb. 17. Her career record is five wins from 13 starts with earnings of $708,167.