Distorted Humor’s gritty 5-year-old son Honorable Duty has been unbeatable at Fair Grounds winter/spring, wrapping up the meet on Saturday with his third straight stakes win in the $400,000 New Orleans H. (G2).
The sweep of the Fair Grounds races for older horses included the Tenacious S. and Mineshaft H. (G3). The DARRS Inc. colorbearer has now earned $501,276.
With a quartet of foes going for the lead, Honorable Duty settled nicely in fifth along the rail as the field moved through the first turn. Half-way through the race, Honorable Duty was a dozen lengths off the lead, but began to eat into that margin around the turn. From the top of the stretch, he still had some eight lengths to make up on Breaking Lucky, but a sustained run under jockey James Graham would carry him past the front-runner in the final strides to win by a neck (VIDEO).
Honorable Duty finished the nine furlongs in 1:48.35, just a half-second off the track record and earning him a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105. The time was also the third-fastest in the New Orleans Handicap’s 92-year history.
“He’s actually getting better and better every start,” Graham said of the winner. “He got away from me in the second turn and they caught him a little flat footed, but when I picked him up and asked him to run, he ran (strong) all the way to the wire.”
Honorable Duty is Distorted Humor’s first multiple stakes winner this year and one of seven black type horses by the WinStar stallion. He currently ranks seventh on the 2017 General Sire list with over $2.1 million in progeny earnings.
Pedigree notes from the TDN:
Honorable Duty is out of the unraced Mesmeric, who is a daughter of GISW and Broodmare of the Year Toussaud. The 13-year-old mare is also a half-sister to MGISW and top sire Empire Maker ; GISWs Chester House, Chiselling, and Honest Lady, who is he dam of GISW sire First Defence; and MGSW and GISP Decarchy. Honorable Duty was purchased by David Ross for $130,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
