In Saturday's $250,000 GIII Iselin S. at Monmouth, the competition included horses from the barns of Todd Pletcher, Jerry Hollendorfer and Chad Brown, two Hall of Famers and a future Hall of Famer. St. Lewis, who is based at Parx and has 27 horses in his stable, sent out Informative (Bodemeister), a 14-1 shot who had lost nine straight. On paper, Informative didn't look to have much of a shot and most trainers would have picked out an easier spot. But St. Lewis is not like other trainers. He'll run a 14-1 shot, he'll run a 140-1 shot, he'll run them in spots where it looks like they don't have a prayer of winning.

“If you're not in it, you don't have a chance,” he said.

That's what he does. He keeps throwing horses into what seems like impossible spots. But in this day and age where there are so many small fields in stakes races he, more often than not, walks away with a check. Case in point: Informative ran fifth and last in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H., but St. Lewis walked away with a check for $40,000. And if you send out enough big longshots in big races sometimes you're going to win and cash even bigger checks.

St. Lewis started in the sport as a fan and a bettor. He got his first job in racing working at the NYRA tracks as a technician for AmTote. His wife encouraged him to give training a try and he took a job under a trainer named Robert Hayes. St. Lewis won his first race in 1987.

Along the way, he has figured out that you don't have to win 150 races a year and have a high winning percentage to make money. He says that his stable makes a profit every year and is his sole source of income. After making $150,000 with the Iselin win, St. Lewis's Trin-Brook Stable has banked $814,325 on the year.

St. Lewis's biggest win came in the 2018 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, which he won with Discreet Lover (Repent). He was coming off a twelfth-place finish in the GI Woodward, but did not embarrass himself when finishing third in the GI Whitney S. and GII Suburban H. He was 45-1 in the Gold Cup, which he won by a neck, defeating horses trained by Pletcher, Brown, Aidan O'Brien and Saeed bin Suroor. Discreet Lover finished his career with $1,452,735 in earnings.

Informative is 4-for-35 lifetime with earnings of $527,040. His other graded stakes win came in last year's GIII Salvator Mile S. at Monmouth, which he won at odds of 79-1.

The other star in St. Lewis's barn this year has been Forewarned (Flat Out). He's 1-for-7 on the year, but won the Excelsior S. and has earned $147,500 in 2022 and $909,883 during his career.

St. Lewis is from Trinidad (Trin) and his wife, Amanda, is from Brooklyn (Brook). He has no outside owners and family members make up the bulk of his staff. That, he says, is a big reason why he has been successful, albeit in his own unique way.

“We are in it to make money,” he said. “If you do the right thing, treat the horses right and take some chances you can make money. We can take the chances because we own all the horses. A lot of trainers can't do that. It's been working for us. This would be hard for other trainers to do because they don't own their own horses. I used to train for other people. It's a real pain because they say 'don't go there, I don't like this spot, I don't want to get embarrassed.' I ran Discreet Lover in the Met Mile and he finished fourth. I made $80,000. I wasn't embarrassed to make $80,000. But a lot of trainers wouldn't have run him in that race.

For his system to work, he's got to do it with inexpensive horses. He paid $10,000 for Discreet Lover, $25,000 for Informative and $40,000 for Forewarned. He buys almost all of his horses as 2-year-olds at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale.

“We go to the sale in Timonium and we sit there for two days and look at every horse,” he said. “You have to take your time. I'll pay $3,000 for a horse, I'll go up to $60,000. It all depends on the horse and how much I like them.”

St. Lewis hasn't decided where Informative will run next, but he said that a Breeders' Cup race is definitely on his schedule. He's not sure whether he will go in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile or the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. In either race, Informative will probably be 50-1, maybe higher. A 50-1 shot in race where the horse looks completely overmatched, that's exactly where St. Lewis is most dangerous.

Nest Is Special

Now that the race is in the books, you can't fault the owners for running Nest (Curlin) in the GI Alabama S. instead of against the boys on the GI Runhappy Travers S. The Alabama had a fat purse of $600,000 and is among the most prestigious races on the calendar for 3-year-old fillies. It was a race she probably couldn't lose while, for her, the Travers would have been a tough spot.

With the win, they've already wrapped up an Eclipse Award for the sport's top 3-year-old filly. With wins in the Alabama, the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Ashland S. and a second-place finish in the GI Belmont S., she's done more than enough to earn year-end honors. With so many top males horses out there, Nest probably won't be named Horse of the Year, but you never know.

For her, the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff will no doubt now become the main goal for the rest of the season. After that, let's see what she can do as a 4-year-old and whether or not her team will take another crack at beating males. Let's hope that they do. With another big year, they can start thinking Hall of Fame.

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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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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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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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The purse increases take effect the day of the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes, the track's showcase race.

The Nownownow Stakes for 2-year-olds going a mile on the turf will see the biggest purse boost, increasing to $500,000 from $150,000. Named for the 2007 winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Monmouth Park, the second edition of the Nownownow Stakes will be the closing day feature on Sunday, Sept. 26.

Maiden special weight races and allowance races will see a purse increase of 20 percent, with claiming races over $12,500 getting a 10 percent increase and claimers that go for $12,500 or less seeing a five percent purse increase.

Purses for all non-state bred stakes races that are currently $75,000 will go to $100,000 while Jersey-bred stakes races that are now $75,000 will be increased to $85,000.

“We're thankful to Gov. Philip Murphy and to the leadership in the state Senate and Assembly who continue to support racing in New Jersey,” said Dennis Drazin, the Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, the operators of Monmouth Park. “A supplemental appropriation was passed and signed into law, and with rain preventing us from writing more races during the early stages of the meet, we have $5.5 million to spend on purses to support the Monmouth Park product as a result.

“We believe it was important to make the announcement at this time so horsemen can plan for the balance of the meet. We feel these increases will further strengthen what is already a quality product.”

Several other stakes races will see purse boosts as well. The Sapling Stakes (Sunday, Sept. 5) and the Sorority Stakes (Monday, Sept. 6), fixtures for 2-year-olds on the Monmouth Park racing calendar, will each get a $100,000 purse bump to $200,000.

The Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on July 31 will now carry a purse of $250,000, a $50,000 increase. The Grade 3 Iselin Stakes on Aug. 21 will see the same increase from $200,000 to $250,000.

Monmouth Park's original schedule called for live racing on Saturdays and Sundays only for the final three weekends of September. Friday day cards will now be added to those weekends.

Monmouth Park will conduct live racing from Friday through Monday over the Labor Day weekend Sept. 3 through 6.

Following a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet will return with nine live Thoroughbred cards in October. Those all-turf programs in East Rutherford will see significant purse increases as well. The purse structure for that meet will be announced when the racing dates are finalized.

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