Is “racing luck” a real thing? If you ask Kerry and Alan Ribble, the answer is yes.
The couple has owned Thoroughbred racehorses for about a decade now but experienced the true meaning of racing luck, on both sides of the coin, with Honor Marie in 2024.
Winner of the 2023 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2)—the first stakes victory for the owners—Honor Marie took the Ribbles to the sport’s pinnacle when he qualified for the Kentucky Derby (G1). However, the dreams of wearing roses were dashed just seconds into the famed two minutes when the colt was knocked around by rivals on both sides leaving the gate.
“We went through the highs and the lows, from feeling like the luckiest people in the world to get into the Derby and then the unluckiest when he gets out of the gate and the race is over,” Kerry Ribble recalled. “But we also feel like we put together, behind the scenes, a great team.”
That team Ribble refers to is Legion Bloodstock and Racing: Travis Durr, Kristian Villante, and Kyle Zorn. When the Ribbles’ previous trainer, David Vance, was getting ready to retire, they decided it was time to step out of the claiming game. As luck would have it, they soon met Zorn and informed him they wanted a “Saturday horse.” Soon a new team was born.
“They’re such a key part of our luck,” Ribble said. “Not just luck, but a lot of hard work and surrounding ourselves with the right people that have experience. Like my daughter says, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get.'”
The team from Legion Bloodstock (L-R): Travis Durr, Kristian Villante, and Kyle Zorn
Whether it’s hard work, luck, or a little of both, that success has not stopped with Honor Marie as the Ribbles now find themselves back on the trail to Churchill Downs for the first weekend of May. This time, however, it’s on the fillies’ side as they hope to have a first Kentucky Oaks (G1) starter on their hands.
That filly is Drexel Hill , a daughter of Bolt d’Oro set to run March 1 in the $200,000 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, a race that offers Oaks qualifying points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale to the top 5 finishers.
Unlike Honor Marie, of whom the Ribbles are majority owners, they only own 20% of Drexel Hill through Legion Racing, who purchased the filly for $50,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. However, Ribble says that doesn’t lessen the excitement.
“I told the guys that’s a good way to let me down easy from Derby, let’s just do Oaks,” Ribble said.
Drexel Hill, like Honor Marie, is trained by Whit Beckman—another member of the team the Ribbles consider themselves lucky to have. Beckman has a hot hand on the Oaks trail this season as he also trains Grantley Acres’ stakes winners Simply Joking , who is co-owned by Ryan Conner and Berkels0813, and Her Laugh .
“Whit’s got some really good fillies in his barn, so we just let her go under the radar,” Ribble said of Drexel Hill’s development. “All of a sudden, she started stepping up and Whit starts getting a little excited about her. Then the guys put this plan together with the New York route. We started getting a little more excited about it.”
Running up north is nothing new for Drexel Hill, who made her first four career starts at Woodbine. In her last two efforts, both in Oaks prep races at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, she has finished behind her stablemates. Beckman said the filly, who will have blinkers removed Saturday after getting a touch too aggressive when third in the Jan. 18 Silverbulletday Stakes, has shown every indication that she’s developing into an Oaks-caliber horse.
“If she performs well (in the Busher), that gives us another reason to move on to another prep,” Beckman said. “(The Kentucky Oaks) is definitely the goal.”
To help ease the ship from Louisiana to New York, Drexel Hill traveled in stages. First, she shipped from Louisiana to Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. She recorded a four-furlong breeze on Turfway’s Tapeta Feb. 22 before eventually completing the journey to New York.
“I always worry about the travel, but Whit was able to spread it out by getting her part of the way there to Kentucky,” Ribble said. “Spent some time on the track there and then take a shorter ship up to New York. I think that worked itself out. I like their plan.”
Drexel Hill isn’t the only high-caliber 3-year-old filly that the Ribbles are involved with. Hollygrove , of whom they also own 20%, showed plenty of promise when breaking her maiden on debut last spring at Churchill Downs. After a runner-up finish in the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in December, the Complexity filly shipped up to Turfway and won the 6 1/2-furlong Valdale Stakes Feb. 8, becoming the second stakes winner for the Ribbles.
“She’s always been a very mind-on-business, focused, professional filly from day one,” Beckman said of Legion’s $65,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale. “She’s a solid filly, does everything right and clearly has ability.”
Hollygrove wins the Valdale Stakes at Turfway Park
However, whether that ability can stretch itself around two turns is yet to be seen. Currently, Beckman is targeting the March 29 Serena’s Song Stakes going six furlongs at Turfway rather than the 1 1/16-mile Bourbonette Oaks on the Kentucky Oaks trail one week prior.
Although it would be nice to have two runners in the Oaks itself, the Ribbles may still find themselves with at least two runners on Oaks day as a solid performance in the Serena’s Song could lead to a start in the $600,000 Eight Belles Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs May 2, a race that Beckman said would fit Hollygrove’s timing.
Ahead of the Derby last year, the Ribbles credited Beckman with instilling some patience in her and her husband. A year later, the experience of having a horse on the Derby trail has relaxed the couple much more while developing stakes-caliber horses.
“It’s interesting, I don’t know why we’re so much less stressed,” Ribble said. “I don’t think we’re less excited, we’re just less stressed. Maybe we have learned and gained some resilience over the year. We had a really tough week before the Derby. We had to learn a lot of patience that week, too. I think we have had a year under our belt learning you wait on these horses and don’t push them.”
The tough week before the Derby began when Beckman was hospitalized for several days with a condition called rhabdomyolysis, where damaged muscle tissue can release proteins into the blood.
Also, major events like the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup come under heightened veterinary scrutiny. Due to Honor Marie’s unusual head carriage while training in which he turns it to the side—a trait his connections say developed early in his career—he was closely monitored by track and regulatory veterinarians leading up to the Derby. Various x-rays and other medical tests that were performed Derby week ultimately proved his soundness, but the stress on whether he would be permitted to race did not subside until Derby morning.
Should Drexel Hill qualify for the Oaks, or Hollygrove the Eight Belles, the Ribbles hope they get an opportunity to experience the thrills of Derby week without the stress that accompanied them last year.
“I’m going to relax a whole lot more,” Ribble said. “I hope the entire week, if we make it to the Oaks, will be that kind of calm all week long and just relish being there.”
That being said, the Ribbles still look back fondly on their Derby memories.
“I remember Alan and I, the morning of the Derby, when we knew we were getting in the gate and we knew it was going to happen, we had a real calm and peace about us that day,” Ribble recalled. “We were happy to be there.”
Kerry and Alan Ribble watch as the field loads in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs
They are also looking forward to sharing this experience with a few of their friends who have also taken part-ownership in the two fillies through Legion.
“There are some friends of ours that we meet up with in Hot Springs (in Arkansas, where the Ribbles are from) that are part-owners,” Ribble said. “They’re the ones that came and shared in the Derby experience last year. It’s really fun to watch them be part of this, too.”
Honor Marie’s Return
And of course, the excitement for the spring is bolstered by the return of Honor Marie to the races.
Following his eighth-place finish in the Derby, the son of Honor Code ran fourth in the Belmont Stakes (G1). Campaigning against the best of his division finally took its toll in late August when he was last of eight in the Travers Stakes (G1), earning him a year-end vacation.
Honor Marie returned to the work tab at Fair Grounds in mid-January and, by all accounts, is stronger and better than ever.
“He looks fantastic, he’s training very well,” Beckman said. “He looks like a horse that developed the right way.”
Beckman said the plan is to get Honor Marie back in a starting gate for an allowance race in early spring, either at the end of the Fair Grounds meet or near the start of Keeneland. Oddly enough, the Ribbles still do not have an allowance-level victory on their résumé as their best horses have been stakes-caliber since leaving the claiming game.
“We’re just really happy with the patience that we put in with him,” Ribble said of her excitement for Honor Marie’s year. “I look back at Honor Code’s 4-year-old campaign (in which he won two grade 1s and was third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic) and think, can he replicate that?”
