Confident coming into the race, jockey Rafael Bejarano rode Honor Marie according to plan, passing five rivals moving around the final turn and taking charge in the stretch to win the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
The 1 1/16-mile race is one of the early preps on the road to the Kentucky Derby (G1). Honor Marie, trained by former Todd Pletcher assistant Whit Beckman, earned 10 Derby qualifying points, while Real Men Violin finished two lengths behind in second and earned five Derby points. Stretch Ride was third (three Derby points), Risk It fourth (two points), and Awesome Road fifth in the field of eight 2-year-olds.
Sent off at 8-1 odds, Honor Marie, a son of Honor Code, returned $19.62 for a $2 win bet.
Nomos, Switch Ride, and One Red Cent vied for the lead early as Honor Marie was last but raced comfortably at the back of the back. As the leaders began to fade, Honor Marie was making a powerful sweep toward the front. As they hit the turn, Bejarano guided the colt outside moved past the field into the stretch, and easily held on for his second win in three starts.
The winning time for the Kentucky Jockey Club was 1:44.31.
“He's a very nice horse, and we were confident with his pedigree, and the way he trained, he'd enjoy longer distances," Beckman told bloodhorse.com. “It's very exciting to have a horse like this and win our first graded stakes with him.”
Bejarano said: He came with a big run. In his last start, he ran OK, but that was seven furlongs. I was more confident with him going two turns today.”
Under a patient ride from Tyler Gaffalione, Intricate ($14.66) pulled away from three others at the top of the stretch for a 5 1/4-length win in the 1 1/16-mile Golden Rod (G2).
Sent off at 6-1 odds, the 2-year-old Gun Runner filly put herself in the picture as a Kentucky Oaks (G1) contender. The race is part of the Road to the Oaks series and was worth 10 qualifying points to the winner.
Thorpedo Road, sent off as the favorite, had a poor start but finished strong for second, with Central Avenue third. Dozen Diamonds was fourth and Gin Gin fifth.
The first five finishers in the race earned 10-5-3-2-1 Oaks points
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