The British woman aiming to upset the Americans and win £1m in Preakness Stakes

Yahoo

17-05-2025

Saffie Osborne is embodying the spirit of adventure that racing needs this weekend. The 23-year-old Briton will bid to win £1 million on Saturday night as she becomes only the fourth female to ride in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the United States Triple Crown.
Fresh from her last-gasp win in last week's Victoria Cup on 22-1 shot Hickory at Ascot, Osborne will be riding Heart Of Honor at Pimlico in Maryland – a horse trained by her father Jamie.
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After the Lambourn trainer's Toast Of New York finished runner-up in a three-way photo for the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2014, the locals will be wary about underestimating the first European runner in 150 editions of the race.
It appears the owners of Heart Of Honor, Jim and Claire Bryce, have already done their hosts a favour by spelling the dirt-bred colt's name the American way but, originally bought to give them a bit of winter entertainment in Dubai, he has already met that goal by winning two at Meydan and finishing second in three others, including in the UAE Derby, beaten a nose by the Japanese horse Admire Daytona.
Osborne rode a 22-1 winner at Ascot last week so heads across the Atlantic in form - PA/Nick Potts
'We reckoned we couldn't beat Charlie Appleby on turf in Dubai so we came up with the idea to buy a few dirt horses for Jim and Claire,' says Jamie Osborne, taking up the story. 'The motivation for buying was not to go for Preakness, it was to compete on dirt in Dubai in winter. We did not set out with the idea of 'US Triple Crown, here we come'. But no one needs a racehorse, so part of my job as a trainer is to entertain.
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'I still have very happy memories of the Breeders' Cup Classic, even though we were second. Our chances? In football terms you'd love to be somewhere near the goal-line, I'm not sure we're even in the box, but sometimes goals get scored from there. It's very hard to know how we stack up against the US horses.
'A bit like when we ran Toast in the Classic, as a trainer trying something different, the first wish is that you're not a million miles wrong and it's not an embarrassment. Do I think [an embarrassment] that's possible? Anything is possible, I think it's unlikely.
'Do I think we can win the Preakness? No. But I believe there's a chance he could cause an upset in the same way I believed Toast could – and he nearly did. I'm not sure what I consider par. What I know is this is an exciting adventure for us and the Bryces. The horse has been the driver. Clearly, there's no point in running him in Europe, he's an out-and-out dirt horse. Alternative? There wasn't one.'
Watch: Toast Of New York (white silks, black cap) finishes second at 2014 Breeders' Cup
The Kentucky Derby has been a proverbial graveyard for UAE Derby winners, hence why Osborne opted to run at Preakness instead. 'It would have been too soon and why go and take on 20 in a race, which would be a bit alien to what he's been doing when two weeks later you could run against a smaller field [nine runners] and benefit from the extra time, it made more sense,' he says.
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'Toast won the UAE Derby on Tapeta, it wasn't a dirt track. His first run on dirt was in the Classic. This horse has only run on dirt apart from his first start at Southwell. There are similarities between the two horses; physically, they're both massive. From what I can see the good dirt horses look like four-wheel drive trucks: huge back ends, huge strong hips and hind legs. They have to be relentless and tough.
'When we went to the Classic with Toast, there wasn't a lot in his pedigree to say he'd go on dirt, but he had a proper dirt horse's physique, had thrived through the middle part of his three-year-old career and by the time we got to Santa Anita he was an incredible specimen. To my mind, Heart Of Honor has done his maturing a tiny bit earlier. He's changed out of all recognition from February. He's a spectacular-looking horse with strength now that he didn't have at the start of the year.'
Ultimately, Osborne is aiming Heart Of Honor for much bigger prizes than the £1 million on offer to the winner, which is chicken feed in comparison to the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup. 'That's the master plan and if I thought this was at all detrimental to that, we wouldn't be doing it,' says the trainer.
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