Honor Marie surges late as Encino fades in Dust Commander

The late-running Honor Marie swept to a win in the $125,000 Dust Commander Stakes for older horses Saturday night at Turfway Park, as heavy favorite Encino faded to finish off the board after setting the pace.

Honor Marie ($16.80), with Joe Ramos in the irons, was last of 10 through the opening quarter as up front, Encino, a graded stakes winner who had never finished worse than second at Turfway, assumed his customary spot on the lead.

However, it wasn't a clear lead - Prince of Power, coming off an allowance win at Turfway, scratched out of the Forego Stakes for older sprinters on Friday night to run in the Dust Commander, and the result was pace pressure. Although Encino was moving well and appeared to not be fighting Luan Machado through the opening quarter of 23.91 seconds on the Tapeta, followed by a half in 47.69 and six furlongs in 1:12.34, he wasn't running freely, with Prince of Power glued to his hip and eyeballing him throughout.

Encino came under a ride on the far turn. Meanwhile, Honor Marie, a late runner, had begun to get his legs under him; he was about eight lengths behind the weakening leader around the bend.

Baby Max, a local stakes winner making his third start off a layoff, got first run on the leaders. Eighth after the opening half-mile, he moved on the outside as Encino beat a steady retreat along the inside and Prince of Power began to wobble as well.

Baby Max swept to a 1 1/2-length lead in upper stretch, but Honor Marie was now rolling in the middle of the track. He cleared in the final furlong and finished full of run, with Ramos celebrating through the final yard, for a 4 1/2-length victory. Baby Max was another 4 1/2 lengths clear of Swiss Slang, who edged a game Prince of Power by half a length for the show. They were followed, in order, by Smokey Mandate, Welaka, Native Shaman, Encino, Chiron and Sugoi.

The time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:45.58.

This was the third career stakes win for Honor Marie, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Whit Beckman for Ribble Farms and Lighthouse Racing. He first came on the scene winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club as a juvenile at Churchill Downs. That, plus a runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, put him on the 2024 Triple Crown trail, and he finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Belmont Stakes. As a 4-year-old last year, Honor Marie won the Isaac Murphy Marathon Overnight, going 1 1/2 miles at Churchill.

All of Honor Marie's previous starts came on dirt, but this winter the gelding, who is out of the graded stakes-placed turf mare Dame Marie, is based at Turfway Park. In his first try on the Tapeta he finished fifth, improving position late, in the Boone County Stakes in December. He improved his position even more on Saturday while earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 97 - a career high, edging the 96 he posted in the Louisiana Derby nearly two years ago.

The Dust Commander could serve as a local prep toward the Grade 3, $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic on March 21.

An overflow field of 13 3-year-olds - 12 may start - was entered on Saturday for the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial, a Kentucky Derby points race, one week out. The field is headed by Street Beast, winner of the Leonatus Stakes last month at Turfway; runner-up Fulleffort also returns. The Battaglia, which awards Derby points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis, is the local prep toward the Grade 3, $777,000 Jeff Ruby on March 21, which awards points on the major scale of 100-50-25-15-10.