The odds were already stacked against the European shipper Heart of Honor going into the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. But any chance the horse may have had was hampered when he acted up some in the gate and broke slowly away from it.
Heart of Honor finished fifth, beaten 8 3/4 lengths by Journalism, in the nine-horse field. It was a respectable enough effort for trainer Jamie Osborne to continue on toward the June 7 Belmont Stakes.
Osborne is hopeful Heart of Honor will be better behaved at the gate for the Belmont, to be run June 7 at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga. Toward that end, Osborne planned to have his assistant Jimmy McCarthy give Heart of Honor “extensive gate practice” Tuesday morning at Saratoga.
“I have a theory that really the gate has never been his strength,” Osborne said Monday from England. “We’ve had to do a lot of work with him. Before the U.A.E. Derby, we were very intensive and he was really good on that occasion. He probably left the gate first, which was very different than he had before.”
Heart of Honor was in close attendance to the pace in the U.A.E. Derby, a race in which he was beaten just a nose by Admire Daytona.
Osborne said he did some gate work with Heart of Honor before he left England for America and the horse was in the gate at Pimlico the day before the race. But come race day, Heart of Honor wasn’t good at the gate and broke last.
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“On the day he fluffed his lines,” Osborne said. “The key to him is being a little bit more relaxed when he goes in. He half fell in love with his pony before the Preakness, that didn’t help him. His brain wasn’t where we wanted it when we loaded, consequently, he was very slow. Whatever chance we had in that race we did give it away at the gate. He faced a sandstorm, just didn’t come forward at all. When he got a bit of clear air, he flew down the straight.”
Osborne deduced that because Heart of Honor only ran the last part of the Preakness, “I don’t think he gave himself a particularly hard race,” he said.
Heart of Honor shipped to Saratoga from Baltimore on May 21. Osborne said what he’s seen from videos sent to him by his assistant Jimmy McCarthy, Heart of Honor has settled in well at Saratoga. Osborne said he has not yet decided if he will give the horse a proper workout or not before the Belmont.
Osborne did confirm that his daughter Saffie Osborne would ride Heart of Honor in the Belmont as she did in the Preakness.
As of Monday, the Belmont field remained at six, and that assumes the presence of Preakness winner Journalism, whose connections have not yet committed to the race. Journalism is in Saratoga, galloping daily. It is expected that trainer Michael McCarthy would fly in later this week and watch the horse train before making a final call on the Belmont. It is the same process that McCarthy used before deciding whether or not to run in the Preakness following his runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby.
The race is expected to include Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty, who skipped the Preakness to point for the Belmont; Baeza, the third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby; Peter Pan Stakes winner Hill Road; and Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez.
Sovereignty, Journalism, and Heart of Honor are all in Saratoga. Baeza and Rodriguez as of Monday were at Santa Anita, with Baeza scheduled to ship to New York on Thursday. Hill Road is at trainer Chad Brown’s Belmont Park barn and was to have his final work at Belmont over the weekend before shipping to Saratoga.
Entries for the Belmont are due to close on Sunday with the post position draw to be held on Monday.
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