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If storylines won Triple Crown races, Heart of Honor would certainly be one of the favorites for Saturday's Belmont Stakes. Bred in Great Britain and raced primarily in Dubai, Heart of Honor is trained by Joseph Osborne and ridden by Osborne's 23-year-old daughter Saffie. The horse has taken his connections around the world, but he hasn't seen the winner's circle since January.

8 Heart of Honor (30-1)

  • Trainer Joseph Osborne
  • Jockey Saffie Osborne
  • Last race Fifth in the Preakness Stakes by 8¾ lengths
  • Career record 7 starts: 2 wins, 4 seconds
  • Career earnings $400,919
  • Best career Beyer Speed Figure 86 (2025 Preakness Stakes)
  • Sire Honor A.P.

Below, we'll dig further into Heart of Honor as part of our series profiling all the horses competing in the 157th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 7. We'll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered Saturday and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.

Belmont Stakes profiles 1 Hill Road | 2 Sovereignty | 3 Rodriguez | 4 Uncaged | 5 Crudo | 6 Baeza | 7 Journalism | 8 Heart of Honor

Belmont Stakes picks Michelle Yu | Gene Menez | Jody Demling | Jeff Hochman

What to know about Heart of Honor

Heart of Honor entered the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago as a complete wild card. He had never finished outside of the top two in six career starts, but all of those starts came either in Great Britain or Dubai. The quality of those fields was a major question mark, especially after the horse who beat Heart of Honor in the UAE Derby, Admire Daytona, faded to last in the Kentucky Derby.

In the Preakness Stakes, Heart of Honor was fractious in the starting gate, broke dead last, had to be pushed along early and dropped back to last. He eventually passed tiring horses to finish fifth but still trailed the winner Journalism by 8¾ lengths. That was Heart of Honor's first time finishing out of the top two and first time losing by more than 1½ lengths.

For the Belmont Stakes, he is the co-longest shot in the field, listed at 30-1 at FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET. A better break from the starting gate would certainly help his chances. It would also allow him to display the tactical speed he used when finishing second in the UAE Derby. 

Trainer Osborne admitted prior to the Preakness the connections were rolling the dice a little by entering the second jewel of the Triple Crown, so entering Heart of Honor in the Belmont Stakes—with Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty and third-place finisher Baeza also in the field—is an even bigger dice roll. There are virtually zero dirt options in Europe or Dubai over the summer and since the horse already is in the United States, there's no reason for the connections to not take a shot.

Post draw analysis

Heart of Honor was fractious in the starting gate in the Preakness Stakes so the No. 8 post position is good for both him and the rest of the field. If he's fractious again, he would bother maybe only one horse, Journalism, who is drawn in post No. 7. If Heart of Honor breaks slowly again, he will have a chance to recover being on the far outside.