Following a runner-up performance in Saturday's Grade 2 Kelso at Belmont Park, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey did not rule Code of Honor out of contention for the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic.
McGaughey said if Code of Honor does go to the Breeders' Cup, he would prefer the 10-furlong Classic rather than the Dirt Mile.
“We'll have to wait and see how he comes out of it, but I'd be more inclined to run him a mile and a quarter,” McGaughey said. “A mile at Keeneland they start right on the turn and if you draw an outside post you're probably done.”
McGaughey used the Kelso as a Breeders' Cup Classic prep for Honor Code in 2015, who finished third in both races en route to Champion Older Horse honors.
A William S. Farish homebred, the 4-year-old Noble Mission chestnut colt was beaten 2 ¼ lengths to post time favorite Complexity in the one-turn mile Kelso.
McGaughey said Code of Honor is more suited for the classic distance of a mile and a quarter, having won last year's Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park [via the disqualification of Vino Rosso].
“I thought he ran fine,” McGaughey said of the Kelso effort. “The first quarter wasn't that fast. I think the way the race set up with a four-horse race got us out of our game plan. I thought he ran well. They ran fast and the winner is a nice horse and he kind of had it his way. It made it a sprint to the end and we're probably not a sprinter.”
Code of Honor has not won since making his 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Westchester on June 6 at Belmont Park. Prior to the Kelso, he finished fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney and was a late-closing third in the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile.
McGaughey said that Code of Honor could race next year as a 5-year-old.
“All things being equal, I think he will run next year,” he said.
McGaughey worked a handful of stakes contenders on the turf on Sunday morning, including Phipps Stables' Breaking the Rules, who is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 2, $150,000 Knickerbocker on October 12.
The 5-year-old son of War Front out of the graded stakes-placed A.P. Indy mare Protesting went five furlongs in 1:00.80.
“I thought he worked really well,” McGaughey said. “He eased away from the pole and finished up really well. He'll go to the Knickerbocker.”
Breaking the Rules was a last out fourth as the beaten favorite in the Lure following back-to-back allowance victories at Belmont and Saratoga.
McGaughey said that one can expect to see a different horse show up in his upcoming engagement.
“He ran well up there [at Saratoga], but he came back fourth in the stakes,” said McGaughey, who won the Knickerbocker with Boisterous in 2011-12. “I think he'll be a different horse this time. I don't think he was real comfortable down on the inside. Johnny [Velazquez] had been riding him on the outside, but he was at the Derby and couldn't ride.”
Allen Stable's Civil Union worked five furlongs in 1:02.22 in preparation for Saturday's Grade 1, 250,000 Flower Bowl Invitational, which McGaughey won with War Flag in 2017.
“She went just fine this morning. She went 1:02 and change and did it well. She's going to go to the Flower Bowl,” McGaughey said.
McGaughey also reported that Emory Hamilton's two-time allowance winner Hungry Kitten, who worked five furlongs in 1:02.22, will target the Grade 3, $125,000 Dowager on October 18 at Keeneland going 1 ½ miles on the turf.
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