Jim and Claire Limited's Heart of Honor, fifth in the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course May 17, arrived at Saratoga Race Course May 21 and walked the shedrow May 22 as he begins preparations for the $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1).
Trained by Jamie Osborne, Heart of Honor, who was piloted in the Preakness by Osborne's daughter Saffie Osborne, was fractious in the gate and off a step slow. The Honor A. P. colt was last of nine and 15 1/2 lengths off the pace through six furlongs in 1:10.23 and made a wide rally down the lane to finish fifth, defeated 8 3/4 lengths by the victorious Journalism.
Jamie Osborne said Heart of Honor will work on his gate issues in the weeks leading up to the Belmont.
"He gave himself a massive disadvantage on the day in the gate," Osborne said of the Preakness effort. "We've got a couple of weeks to work on that and try and improve that again. He improved while we were in Dubai and got a lot of practice into the UAE Derby. We did a fair amount of practice into the Preakness and it didn't work. So, we need to do a bit more practice and get him to relax in the gate and if he goes in there and relaxes, he should jump out all right."
Osborne said the $172,341 purchase at the 2024 Arqana 2-Year-Old Breeze Up Sale exited the Preakness in good order.
"He's eating well and done well since the race. He's pretty bright," Osborne said. "It's a nicer preparation for him (heading into the Belmont) than he had going into the Preakness. Most of the weeks before the Preakness he either spent it on an airplane or a lorry."
Osborne said the team will monitor Heart of Honor's progress at Saratoga before deciding whether or not to breeze him.
"We wouldn't be massive fans of breezing him too tight to a race, but we'll see how he is," Osborne said.
Heart of Honor is out of the group 1-winning Scat Daddy mare Ruby Love and has banked $400,919 via a 2-4-0 record from seven starts.
Pletcher Not Ruling Out Belmont for Grande, Crudo
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, a four-time winner of the Belmont Stakes, could be represented yet again in the final jewel of the Triple Crown as two of his pupils are possible for a start in the 1 1/4-mile test.
Repole Stable's Grande, who was scratched from the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) due to a foot issue, recently arrived at Saratoga, as did Crudo, winner of the May 17 Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico for owners Bobby Flay and James Ventura.
"Grande is good and galloped well this morning. We don't have a schedule picked out just yet for him—we're not ruling anything out," Pletcher said. "I spoke to Bobby Flay a little bit and it's the same thing (for Crudo)—nothing is ruled out."
Pletcher would look to add to past Belmont Stakes wins with Rags to Riches (2007), Palace Malice (2013), Tapwrit (2017), and Mo Donegal (2022).
The current list of probables for the Belmont Stakes includes: Baeza (trained by John Shirreffs), Heart of Honor, Hill Road (Chad Brown), Preakness winner Journalism (Michael McCarthy), Rodriguez (Bob Baffert), and Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty (Bill Mott).
Journalism, who arrived in New York May 19 and is stabled in the Pletcher barn, visited the main track Thursday morning to jog in his first on-track activity at Saratoga.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
