Ohana Honor poised to pounce on lack of pace in Sycamore
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We know that Grand Sonata’s entire 2025 campaign revolved around the Turf Cup on Sept. 6 at Kentucky Downs because his trainer, Todd Pletcher, said as much. Of course it did. The Turf Cup this year paid out purse money just shy of $2.5 million.
Many horses dislike the quirky Kentucky Downs course. Grand Sonata won the 2024 Turf Cup over it. Not this time. Wide much of the race and one-paced at the end of it, Grand Sonata checked in sixth, and Friday’s Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland feels more like an afterthought than an encore.
Not for Utah Beach. Ninth in the Turf Cup, Utah Beach returns to Keeneland, his favorite course, trying to sweep the track’s two 1 1/2-mile, older-horse turf stakes this year. In April 2024, Utah Beach won a second-level turf allowance over 1 1/2 miles at Keeneland by more than four lengths, and he finished a creditable third in the 2024 Sycamore. This past April, he captured the 1 1/2-mile Elkhorn by a head.
A solid fourth in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga, beaten by three rivals superior to any in the Sycamore, Utah Beach raced wide in the Turf Cup last month. With the gelding spinning his wheels a furlong out, his jockey rode him kindly to the finish.
Utah Beach could, theoretically, loom an attractive play in the Grade 2, $400,000 Sycamore. But his 7-2 morning-line odds do not hold a great deal more appeal than Grand Sonata at 9-2, and the Sycamore easily could fall to several of the other nine entrants.
Not Mercante, who raced last weekend in the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland and will be scratched Friday, trainer Brian Knippenberg said. Mercante likely would have set the pace Friday. Instead, the Sycamore has no true pace.
Given the on-paper pace dynamics and his wide post in a three-turn race with a short run to the first bend, jockey Flavien Prat on Ohana Honor could tap his mount for whatever speed he possesses after leaving the Sycamore starting gate. There’s a blueprint for this. In April, Ohana Honor made his first long-distance grass start, racing in a Keeneland second-level allowance, where he made a comfortable lead and won that 1 1/2-mile contest by more than four lengths.
Ohana Honor flopped in the 2024 Sycamore, finishing eighth, but since he didn’t even post a timed workout after that start until this past July, it’s fair to assume he came out of it poorly. Ohana Honor returned at Kentucky Downs from his long break and finished second in the $500,000 Tapit, a one-mile race short of his best distance. The winner, Lagynos, ran lights-out that day, and Ohana Honor, as much as anything, geared up for this Sycamore stretch-out. He won’t go to post as high as his 6-1 morning-line odds but could wind up a fair price.
Anglophile didn’t have a great trip in the Turf Cup but drew an even worse post than Ohana Honor on Friday and lacks the pace to do anything but drop to the tail of the field. Goldeneye and San Siro – the latter totally unproven on turf but an intended grass runner, trainer Brendan Walsh confirmed – loom as potential leaders. Safe Trip Home exits a 2 1/2-length win in the $150,000 Colonial Turf Cup and has won two straight long-distance grass races.
He might not be quite good enough. Ohana Honor is.
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