Promising Honor Marie set to begin Derby trail at Fair Grounds

In 2021, Whit Beckman went into winter with a two-horse stable. Two years later, Beckman will winter horses at two different racetracks, Fair Grounds and Turfway, and trains one of the more promising 2-year-olds in North America, Honor Marie, winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Saturday.

Honor Marie in his route and stakes debut rallied from last into a moderate pace and won the Grade 2, $400,000 KJC by two lengths. His time of 1:44.31 for 1 1/16 miles yielded a 92 Beyer Speed Figure, and Honor Marie looked like he was just getting warmed up at this middle distance.

“Mile and an eighth, mile and a quarter, that should be even better,” said Beckman.

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Honor Marie came from far off the pace in his two sprint races before the KJC and was last behind a modest pace going into the far turn. Not only did he sustain his move for a solid half-mile, Honor Marie galloped out as strongly as he’d finished.

“We always knew he was a two-turn horse,” said Beckman. “The turn of foot he showed past the three-eighths, you don’t see that in a 2-year-old two turns on dirt.”

Honor Marie ships to Fair Grounds this week. No plans have been set for his next start. The first logical spot in New Orleans is the Jan. 20 Lecomte Stakes.

Whitman will have eight stalls at Fair Grounds and a dozen more at Turfway as he concludes a successful second full season training his own string. Whitman, 41, worked as a head trainer in Saudi Arabia but was an assistant to trainer Chad Brown before going out on his own late in 2021.

Honor Marie is by Honor Code out of Dame Marie, by Smart Strike, and was purchased for $40,000 as a yearling. Legion Racing raced him for a partnership in his debut before Alan Ribble’s Ribble Farms bought out the other partners. Beckman said Legion’s model is to race early and sell 2-year-olds at Keeneland’s November Horses of Racing Age Sale; Honor Marie was consigned to that sale before being withdrawn.

“That’s been off the table since I told them he was too good to go to the sale,” Beckman said.

Instead, Honor Marie is going to New Orleans with a real chance to saunter onto the Derby trail.

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