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No horse in the Preakness Stakes field has traveled more miles to get to Baltimore than Heart of Honor. Bred in Great Britain and raced primarily in Dubai, this son of American sire Honor A.P. is coming off a runner-up finish in the UAE Derby on April 5. But he will need to end his recent string of runner-up finishes if he hopes to don the blanket of Black-Eyed Susans.

4 Heart of Honor (12-1)

  • Trainer: Jamie Osborne
  • Jockey: Saffie Osborne
  • Last race: 2nd in the UAE Derby by a nose
  • Career record: 6 starts: 2 wins, 4 seconds
  • Career earnings: $340,919
  • Best career Beyer Speed Figure: N/A
  • 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 150th Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 17. We'll look back into his past performances, what questions need to be answered on Saturday, and analyze how the post draw affects his chances.

Preakness Stakes profiles 1 Goal Oriented | 2 Journalism | 3 American Promise | 4 Heart of Honor | 5 Pay Billy | 6 River Thames | 7 Sandman | 8 Clever Again | 9 Gosger

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

What to know about Heart of Honor

Heart of Honor will be trainer Jamie Osborne's first starter in the United States since 2018. He will be ridden by Osborne's 23-year-old daughter, Saffie, who will be riding a race in the States for the first time.

The colt has never run a poor race, finishing first or second in all six career starts and never losing by more than 1½ lengths. But what exactly has he been facing? Two starts ago he finished second by a head to Galactic Star, who returned to finish last of nine in the UAE Derby. In Heart of Honor's last start, he finished second by a nose to Admire Daytona in the UAE Derby, and that runner crumbled to finish last of 19 in the Kentucky Derby. Do you recognize a pattern?

Heart of Honor also may be suffering a bit from a case of seconditis. His four losses have come by a nose, a head, 1½ lengths and 1½ lengths. 

To his credit, Heart of Honor already has run the Preakness distance twice, so fitness should not be a problem.

As a son of Honor A.P., Heart of Honor is bred to be a dirt horse, but there are virtually zero dirt options in Europe over the summer. So the connections decided to ship him halfway across the world, to Baltimore. Trainer Osborne admits that the connections are rolling the dice a little by entering the Preakness, and the odds at FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET will certainly reflect that.

Post draw analysis

Based on his recent races, Heart of Honor will come from midpack, so post position is less important for him, and the No. 4 post is perfect. From there he should be able to save ground and follow the leaders and, if he's good enough, make his move at the top of the stretch.