Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Greatest Honour hits bump in the road, out of Derby
The potholes that can be found on the road to the Kentucky Derby knocked out one of the top contenders Wednesday, when Greatest Honour was ruled out of the race.
It’s a significant development on many levels. Greatest Honour last week was the fourth choice, at 8-1, for the May 1 Derby on the Derby Watch top 20 line. His absence will prevent his Hall of Fame trainer, Shug McGaughey, from trying to win his second Derby, following Orb eight years ago. His jockey, Jose Ortiz, will now wind up on Dynamic One, a longshot whom Ortiz rode to a second-place finish in the Wood Memorial on Saturday. And the removal of one of the horses firmly entrenched in the top 20 on points moves those on the bubble up another peg, with the final two points-scoring races on tap this Saturday.
Greatest Honour had finished third most recently in the Florida Derby, following victories earlier this year at Gulfstream in the Holy Bull and the Fountain of Youth. McGaughey, in a telephone call Wednesday, said he wasn’t satisfied with Greatest Honour exiting the Florida Derby and had him examined “the other day” by noted equine veterinarian Larry Bramlage. The decision was made to give him 60 days off, with the first 30 days turned out at the farm, McGaughey said.
Greatest Honour, a son of Tapit, is a homebred for the Courtlandt Farm of Don and Donna Adam.
His performances in the three stakes at Gulfstream gave Greatest Honour 80 points on the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the Derby in the event more than the maximum 20 enter. He is one of several horses who had sufficient points but are now out, joining early Derby favorite Life Is Good, as well as Rebel’s Romance, winner of the United Arab Emirates Derby, along with Crowded Trade and Weyburn. All those horses had at least 40 points.
Their collective absence gives hope to the connections of horses like O Besos, on the bubble with 25 points after finishing third most recently in the Louisiana Derby. His position is tenuous, though, because the results of the Arkansas Derby and Lexington – the final two points-scoring races – on Saturday could cause horses to leapfrog him. Most notable are Arkansas Derby entrants Caddo River (10 points) and Hozier (20 points), who figure to be the next two choices behind favored Concert Tour in a race worth 100 points for first, 40 for second, and 20 for third. Get Her Number, who also has 10 points, can move past O Besos by finishing in the top three in the Arkansas Derby.
Trainer Greg Foley is desirous of running O Besos in the Derby, but said the Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard would be the option if he doesn’t get in.
The scoreboard watching includes the Lexington at Keeneland, which is less important in terms of points – it offers 34 overall, with 20 to the winner – but could be significant depending on the performance of Proxy, who comes back three weeks after finishing fourth in the Louisiana Derby. Proxy, trained by Mike Stidham, has 34 points, which likely will be sufficient to make the Derby field, but his performance Saturday will be a determining factor on whether he goes on. His owner, Godolphin Racing, has Derby favorite Essential Quality, who is trained by Brad Cox.
The other horses to watch in the Lexington are Hockey Dad, who has 20 points and would move past O Besos by finishing first or second, and Unbridled Honor, who has five points and with a win would move into a statistical tie with O Besos, but who would be ranked in front of O Besos based on the tie-breaker, non-restricted stakes earnings, owing to the $120,000 first prize in the Lexington.
Last year’s Derby prep season was elongated by four months owing to the postponement of the Derby because of the coronavirus pandemic, and thus included such usual post-Derby races as the Travers and Haskell. This year’s Derby prep season has been a return to normalcy on many levels, almost quaint by comparison, ending a little more than seven months after it started.
But no Derby trail is free from potholes. Last year, Charlatan and Nadal were among those who went out before the Derby was run. Greatest Honour joins Life Is Good as the most prominent this year, but with more than three weeks remaining until Derby Day, longtime Derby watchers know there are still many miles to travel.