Welcome to 2024 Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we’ll take a look each week at a recent winner on the Triple Crown trail, usually from the Road to the Kentucky Derby race series that offers qualifying points for the first leg of the Triple Crown.

The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held May 4, 2024, at Churchill Downs.

This week, we’ll take a closer look at Honor Marie, winner of the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs. Honor Marie earned 10 points toward qualifying for the 2024 Kentucky Derby with that win and moved into sixth place on the latest Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Racing Résumé: Honor Marie made his stakes debut in the Kentucky Jockey Club after winning his career debut and running second in an allowance-optional claiming race in his second start, both at Churchill Downs.

The Honor Code colt handled the class test with aplomb with a last-to-first rally under Rafael Bejarano to take command in early stretch before edging clear to win by two lengths. Given the modest pace — first half-mile in :48.45 — it’s surprising that Honor Marie finished well given he was more than five lengths back at that point in the race. He posted a final five-sixteenths of a mile in approximately :30.49 with a final sixteenth of a mile in 6.30 seconds, both strong considering it was his first time navigating two turns.

With two wins and a second in three starts and showing significant improvement when stretching out to two turns, there is legitimate reason for optimism when evaluating Honor Marie.

Speed Figures: Improvement at this point is the name of the game for a developing 2-year-old and Honor Marie appears to be progressing steadily in terms of speed figures. He’s elevated an 83 Equibase Speed Figure for his debut to a 90 in his second start and then a 101 figure for the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. His Beyer Speed Figures have likewise improved in every start thus far: 71-79-92. The 92 Beyer number is especially encouraging for Honor Marie’s first start around two turns.

Running Style: Honor Marie has been a one-run deep closer in his three races, although in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes he did move up on the backstretch into striking distance and showed a bit more cruising speed. Speed has been pretty potent in the Kentucky Derby over the last decade-plus, but Rich Strike in 2022 and Mage in 2023 both rallied from off the pace to win the run for the roses and served as reminders that, as always, pace makes the race. Closers have a significantly better chance at 1 ¼ miles when the pace is honest early.

Winning connections. (Coady Photography)

Connections: Honor Marie’s Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes victory marked a milestone for both owner Alan Ribble’s Ribble Farms and trainer D. Whitworth Beckman as both earned their first career graded stakes wins in the race. Louisville local Beckman was a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown who went out on his own in 2021.

Rafael Bejarano has ridden Honor Marie in each of his three races. Bejarano has won more than 4,400 races, including five Breeders’ Cup victories, since taking out his jockey’s license in 2002. His best finish in U.S. Triple Crown race was a runner-up finish aboard Andromeda’s Hero in the 2005 Belmont Stakes.

Pedigree Notes: Honor Marie is from the fifth crop of 2015 champion older dirt male Honor Code, winner that year of the Grade 1 NYRA.com Metropolitan Handicap and Grade 1 Whitney Stakes. He also finished third that year behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Honor Code’s best runners to date include 2021 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Max Player, 2020 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P., and 2021 Coaching Club American Oaks winner Maracuja. Max Player also finished third in the both the 2020 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets and Runhappy Travers Stakes. Honor Code was sold to Yushun Stallion Station in August and will stand his first season in Japan in 2024.

Honor Marie was produced by the Smart Strike mare Dame Marie, who won four of 18 starts (all on grass) at distances ranging from a mile to 1 1/8 miles and ran second in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes. Granddam Crystal Crossing, by Royal Academy, won a stakes sprinting in England as a 2-year-old, but she produced Dame Marie’s half-sibling Rule of Law, who won the English St. Leger Stakes at over 1 ¾ miles and also finished second in the 1 ½-mile English Derby.

Derby Potential: I read a few “Well, we didn’t see the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes” social media posts after Honor Marie’s win, and statistically that’s a pretty safe bet with most 2-year-old stakes races. But I thought the Honor Code colt took a significant step forward with the added distance in his third start. Plus, he’s shown an affinity for Churchill in his three races with a pair of wins and a second and he looks like longer-distance races should be right in his wheelhouse.

Sure, the odds are by using simple math that Honor Marie won’t win the Kentucky Derby, but I think his future is pretty bright and he could be a key player in the division next year, especially if he continues to mature.