Code of Honor | Horse Racing Free Tips

Code of Honor Returns To Winning Form In Iselin At Monmouth

Code of Honor came into the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes as the favorite based on his resume of wins in races like the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and the Grade 3 Dwyer. He proved why bettors had made him their choice, as he took the lead on the far turn and powered to an easy victory in the G3 Iselin at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

In his first start since the Jan. 23 Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, Code of Honor broke cleanly, jockey Paco Lopez settling him in behind West Will Power and I'm a G Six entering the first turn. The 2019 Travers winner sat in fourth down the backstretch, never more than three lengths behind the front runners as I'm a G Six took over the lead with West Will Power and Brice in second and third. As the field hit the far turn, Lopez moved Code of Honor to the outside to make his bid for the lead.

Code of Honor had no trouble taking over as the front runner, steadily increasing his advantage around the turn and through the stretch to win the G3 Iselin by two and a half lengths. West Will Power was second with Phat Man third. Brice, Croatian, I'm a G Six, and Magic Michael rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.38. Find this race's chart here.

Code of Honor paid $4.00, $2.80, and $2.10. West Will Power paid $3.60 and $2.40. Phat Man paid $2.20.

“I thought he ran good. I was pleased, very pleased. Paco Lopez let him break and run away from there. He knows that racetrack and he had him laying up a little closer than he usually is and made his move kind of early on to try to go on and get the thing over with. He rode a really nice race on him. This is a pretty handy little horse,” trainer Claude R. 'Shug' McGaughey III said after the race. “This is the first time he has run in a long time. With my training, I don't try to overdo it. I think he could have been drifting out a little at the end. Maybe he was getting a little tired, I don't know. But we got it in him and we got a win and hopefully we can go on to some other things down the road.”

Bred in Kentucky by owner Will Farish, Code of Honor is a 5-year-old horse by Noble Mission out of the Dixie Union mare Reunited. He was a $70,000 RNA consigned by Lane's End at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. With the Iselin victory, the multiple graded stakes winner has a lifetime record of 7-4-2 in 17 starts for career winnings of $2,881,370.

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Sweezey Hoping Home Track Advantage Helps Phat Man In Iselin

To beat a horse like multiple Grade 1 winner Code of Honor in Saturday's Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park, trainer Kent Sweezey knows he needs every edge he can get. That's where the home track advantage comes in for Phat Man.

Code of Honor, the 2019 Kentucky Derby runner-up and Travers Stakes winner, will ship in from Saratoga for the $250,000 mile and a sixteenth race that serves as the headliner on a 14-race card.

Phat Man, the only other graded stakes winner in the seven-horse field, merely has to travel from Sweezey's barn on the Monmouth Park backstretch.

“I feel he's getting a real advantage running out of his own stall,” said Sweezey. “He's been a tricky horse. We've had minor issues with shipping him for the past year. Being able to run out of his own stall makes a huge difference.

“When we went to Belmont (June 4) we shipped in four days early. When we went to Churchill Downs (May 1) we came in the morning of the race. We've had to be really careful with what we do with his shipping because he's a bit of a worrier. He's tricky that way. So being at home for this race is huge for him.”

Two other factors could play to Phat Man's advantage. One is Code of Honor's seven-month layoff, with the Shug McGaughey-trainee idle since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream.

Phat Man, meanwhile, is coming off a win that Sweezey said was “one of the best races he's ever run for us.”

Now 7 years old, Phat Man rolled to a two-length victory in the Battery Park Stakes at Delaware Park on July 10 as a prep for the Iselin.

“I wanted to see that and got to see that,” said Sweezey, who is enjoying a solid Monmouth Park meet with 11 wins from his 40 starters. “I spoke to (jockey) Florent Geroux right after he got off the horse and he said `man, your big horse ran great.' I asked him how much he had to ask of him, if he really had to get to the bottom of him, and he said `not even close.'

“So that's encouraging to me.”

Phat Man, owned by Marianne Stribling, Force Five Racing LLC and Two Rivers Racing Stable LLC, will always hold a special place with Sweezey since he provided him with the first graded stakes win of his career in the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 25, 2020. That was just six months after ownership group bought the son of Munnings for $65,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Sale on July 8, 2019.

Overall, Phat Man shows a 9-8-2 line with career earnings of $621,609 from his 35 starts.

“He's a really smart horse and he takes care of himself,” said Sweezey. “He knows when it's go time and he also knows when he can lollygag in the mornings. He's kind of an old school type of horse who will tell you what to do.”

Sweezey believes there's enough speed in the Iselin to help set up Phat Man's late run, saying “he's a horse who needs to get into a rhythm.”

“He's a huge horse,” said Sweezey. “I would say he's one of the biggest horses on the backstretch as far as weight and height go, meaning he is a freight train. You can't stop and start a big horse like that. He's not a Ferrari. He needs to be kept in a rhythm. That's what happened in Delaware.

“Obviously, Shug's horse is the one to beat. But on Phat Man's best day and at this distance I think we have a real shot.”

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Code Of Honor ‘All Caught Up,’ Returns From Seven-Month Layoff In Saturday’s Iselin

It's not so much a new and improved version of Code of Honor who will make his return to the races in Saturday's Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes, trainer Shug McGaughey said, as it is a more mature one.

Idle since a fifth-place finish on Jan. 23 in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, Code of Honor heads a field of seven for the $250,000 Iselin Stakes, the feature on Monmouth Park's 14-race card that day.

With those seven months off, McGaughey said the 2019 Kentucky Derby runner-up and Travers Stakes winner is now all grown up.

“We gave him a good amount of time off and he has come back strong and he has been training really well at Saratoga,” he said. “I'm looking forward to running him on Saturday.

“He has grown up quite a bit physically with the time off. He was a late foal (May 23) so we were always kind of playing catch up with him. I think he is all caught up now.”

The Kentucky-bred Code of Honor, now 5, looms large over his six rivals for the mile and a sixteenth Iselin Stakes. He has won two Grade 1 races (the 2019 Travers and the 2019 Jockey Club Gold Cup) and five of his six career wins have been in graded stakes. Overall, the W. S. Farish homebred is 6-for-16 lifetime with four seconds and two thirds. His career earnings stand at $2,731,320.

“It wasn't a body maturity thing with him,” said McGaughey. “He was always doing fine. Being a late foal it just took him a little time to catch up. That's the best way I can explain it.”

Code of Honor's 2020 campaign started with a victory in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes but failed to produce another win in four races after that. But he was third in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, second in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap and second in Grade 1 Clark Stakes.

“It wasn't a frustrating year but it wasn't exactly what we hoped for after it started out with a win,” said McGaughey. “That's why I'm looking forward to running him again with the time off we gave him.

“He was so close last year. Maybe this year will be the year for him.”

A son of Noble Mission-Reunited by Dixie Union, Code of Honor has proven he can run well fresh, so McGaughey doesn't have any concerns about the lengthy layoff.

“He won his first start. And when he was a 3-year-old he ran in the Dwyer on July 6 at Belmont and then didn't run again until the Travers on Aug. 24,” McGaughey said. “So I think fresh is good for him.”

Code of Honor finished third in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but was elevated to second with the disqualification of Maximum Security. He was also second but placed first due to interference in 2019 Jockey Cup Gold Cup after finishing a nose behind Vino Rosso.

Paco Lopez, well on his way to an eighth Monmouth Park riding title, has the mount.

The rest of the Iselin field consists of West Will Power, Croatian, I'm a G Six, Magic Michael, Phat Man and Brice.

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McGaughey: Iselin Likely For Comebacking Code Of Honor; First Captain Eyes Pennsylvania Derby

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey reported that Will Farish's homebred Code of Honor is readying for his next start and said he was buoyed by the 5-year-old's bullet breeze for five furlongs in 1:01.40 Wednesday on the Oklahoma dirt training track in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

McGaughey said Code of Honor, the 2019 Grade 1 Runhappy Travers-winner, is likely to return to action in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin on Aug. 21 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

“He is probably going to run in the Iselin. He has trained very, very well up here. He had a great work yesterday,” said McGaughey, who brought the son of Noble Mission to Saratoga from his Fair Hill Training Center barn at the start of the meet. “I'm looking forward to getting him back.”

Code of Honor, the 2019 Kentucky Derby runner-up, has made one 2021 start, finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23.

McGaughey said First Captain, the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes winner who disappointed with a third-place finish as the short-priced favorite in the Curlinon July 30, will likely not start in the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers on Aug. 28.

“We're probably not planning on running in the Travers but if something happens where the race were to fall apart, we're going to be ready. It probably will be more likely that the Pennsylvania Derby [on Sept. 25 at Parx] is where we're going with him,” McGaughey said.

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