For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK, September 26, 2023 – Jockey Tyler Conner had no idea about Honor D Lady until he got on her for the first time Sunday, but they somehow meshed in the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks and took home the trophy.
“I didn’t know anything about her,” he said. “But a couple of hours ago I talked to (trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.) and he just told me to keep her face clean; she didn’t like dirt kicked back at her.”
Honor D Lady, a 3-year-old dark bay daughter of Honor Code, out of the Blame mare Complicated, hooked up with Ancient Peace (5-2) in the stretch and the two fought hoof to hoof until the final strides. At that point, Honor D Lady found another gear and kicked away by 2-1/2 lengths at the wire.
“I was told she tends to get lazy, but once that other horse came up to us, I knew we had her,” Conner said.
The winner stopped the timer for the 1-1/16 miles race on the main track for 3-year-old fillies in 1:46 over a fast track. The race was hand-timed.
Honor D Lady was never farther back than third as Ancient Peace set all the interior fractions of :23.49 for the first quarter-mile, :47.49 for the half-mile and 1:11.46 for three-quarters of a mile. Honor D Lady won $120,000 from the purse for owners Final Furlong Farm and Madaket Stables of New York City. She improved her record to eight starts, three wins, two seconds and two thirds for $244,567 in earnings.
The only other stakes win on her form was a trip to the winner’s circle in the $75,000 Honey Ryder Stakes on the turf at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., Joseph’s home base. That came at one mile on the grass on May 6 this year. That was the first time over the grass for Honor D Lady. Her second chance greensward came last time out at Saratoga in upstate New York when she finished last in a field of 10, 43 lengths back, over a soft course at 1-3/16th miles in the Grade 3, $400,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational.
Honor D Lady has proven to be quite the versatile horse now having won over a main track at Remington Park, over the turf at Gulfstream Park and on an all-weather surface, breaking her maiden over that surface also at Gulfstream.
Honor D Lady paid $17.40 to win, $8 to place and $4.40 to show. The filly was bred in Kentucky by William Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo and was purchased at the Keeneland September Sale in 2021 for $40,000, quite a bargain for a filly that has made more than six times that in earnings on the track.
The final order of finish was Magic Bubbles (8-1) in third, another 4-1/4 lengths behind the runner-up; Nomadic Pride (15-1) in fourth; Appropriated Funds (33-1) fifth; Love Tank (18-1) sixth; Perfect Wish (10-1), seventh, and Merlazza, the even-money favorite eighth.
It was the first win in the Remington Park Oaks for all connections.
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Remington Park has provided more than $331 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park is home to the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and the Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Parking and admission are always free. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
