Iron Honor Stays Perfect, Wins Gotham at Aqueduct, Earns 50 Derby Points

Iron Honor, a 3-year-old Nyquist colt ridden by Manny Franco and trained by Chad Brown, remained undefeated and secured the maximum 50 Road to the Kentucky Derby points with a determined one-length victory in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. The 4-5 favorite picked up $165,000 of the $300,000 purse and completed the one-turn mile in 1:37.94.

The Gotham, run Saturday at Aqueduct as the 74th edition and the final running at that track before the race moves to Belmont Park next year, drew a field of eight colts and geldings. Iron Honor dueled early with Crown the Buckeye through fractions of :23.09 and :46.30, locked horns a quarter-mile from the wire, then gained the upper hand in deep stretch to edge clear late by roughly a length. NYRA noted Iron Honor has raced in blinkers for both career starts and turned in the fastest of the three one-mile stakes times on the 10-race card.

Crown the Buckeye, trained by M. J. Maker and ridden by J. Ricardo Santana Jr., finished second and Right to Party, ridden by C. Elliott for trainer K. G. McPeek, was third. Racingdudes listed the pari-mutuel payouts from Aqueduct Race 10: Iron Honor paid $3.88 to win, $2.92 to place and $2.50 to show; Crown the Buckeye place $6.92 and show $4.26; Right to Party show $3.34. Racingdudes and other outlets recorded Iron Honor’s margin as about a length and his purse share as $165,000.

Brown, a five-time Eclipse Award winner, praised the colt’s grit and the race shape. “I think he's going to get a lot out of it,” Brown said. “He was in-between horses the whole way which is always hard for a horse to settle. He was taking pressure inside and outside, so I thought he showed a lot of determination to shake the outside horse away and wear down the one on the inside. I like the fact that it was far back to third those races typically come back fast figure-wise.”

Iron Honor broke his maiden in his six-furlong debut at Aqueduct on Dec. 13, winning by 1 1/2 lengths and earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure. Bred in Kentucky by Mike and Pat Freeny out of Orencia by Blame, Iron Honor was purchased for $475,000 out of the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale after previously listing at $230,000 as a Keeneland January yearling, according to sales records reported by Thoroughbreddailynews.

The Gotham awarded points on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale to the top five finishers, moving Iron Honor prominently onto the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. The result also added to sire Nyquist’s crop credentials; Thoroughbreddailynews cited Iron Honor as Nyquist’s 24th graded and 39th stakes winner while Darleyamerica noted Nyquist stands at Jonabell Farm for $175,000. Iron Honor is now two-for-two and a graded stakes winner in just his second start.