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Code of Honor Meets Complexity in Kelso

W.S. Farish’s multiple Grade I winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) will meet surging ‘TDN Rising Star’ Complexity (Maclean’s Music) for the first time since their juvenile season over a flat mile in the GII Kelso S. Saturday at Belmont.

Second to Complexity at 14-1 in the GI Champagne S. here two falls ago, Code of Honor captured the GII Xpressbet Fountain of Youth S. two starts later and was runner-up via disqualification in the GI Kentucky Derby two starts after that. Dominating the GIII Dwyer S. over track and trip, he scored victories in the GI Runhappy Travers S. and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup before fizzling out when seventh in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Annexing the GIII Westchester S. in his seasonal debut here June 6, the chestnut was third in the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. before running an even fourth in the GI Whitney S. last out Aug. 1 at Saratoga.

Complexity picked up his ‘Rising Star’ badge with a 4 1/4-length debut victory on closing day at Saratoga in 2018, but following his wire-to-wire Champagne tally, beat just three horses combined in the GI Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and GI Woody Stephens S. Laid up for over five months, the $375,000 Keeneland September grad rediscovered his top form with a dominant optional claimer win at Aqueduct, but backed up to fourth when shipped cross-country for the GI Malibu S. Adding another optional claiming success in his track-and-trip return July 2, the bay produced clearly his best stakes effort since the Champagne when finishing a hard-fought, half-length second in the GI Forego S. Aug. 29 at Saratoga.

Endorsed (Medaglia d’Oro) battled Code of Honor to within a half-length as a runner-up in the Westchester, but made no impact when seventh in the Met Mile and finished second at 3-5 in the Alydar S. last out Aug. 9 at the Spa.

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Code Of Honor Returns From Freshening In Saturday’s Kelso

W.S. Farish homebred Code of Honor, a multiple Grade 1-winner trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, leads a talented field of five in Saturday's 40th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Kelso Handicap, a one-turn mile on the main track for 3-year-olds and upward at Belmont Park.

The Kelso is one of five graded races on Saturday's card which includes the Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational, a 10-furlong turf test offering a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf; the Grade 1, $250,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at 12 furlongs on the turf for 3-year-olds and up; the Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at 6 ½-furlongs for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up; and the Grade 2, $150,000 Pilgrim for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16-miles on the turf.

Code of Honor enjoyed a tremendous sophomore campaign, capturing the 10-furlong Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga ahead of a dramatic stretch duel with Vino Rosso in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in which Code of Honor was elevated to victory. A standout 2019 season included graded scores in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 3 Dwyer at Belmont, the latter following a game effort in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, where the talented chestnut was elevated to second.

The 4-year-old Noble Mission colt opened his current campaign with a half-length score over Kelso-rival Endorsed in the Grade 3 Westchester traveling 1 1/16-miles over a muddy Belmont main. The $2.5-million earner followed with a closing third in the Runhappy Met Mile on July 4 and was subsequently an even fourth in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Whitney on August 1 at the Spa, defeated five lengths to the victorious Improbable who came back to win the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Following a brief freshening, Code of Honor has breezed five times, including a half-mile effort in 48.45 seconds Monday on Big Sandy. McGaughey said the colt is training forwardly as he prepares for the second half of his 2020 campaign.

“He's doing really well and has trained well into this,” said McGaughey.

McGaughey, who won the 1993 Kelso with Hall of Famer Lure, said he preferred to bring Code of Honor back at a shorter distance rather than defend his title in the Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on October 10.

“After the Whitney I had to start over with him, so this is the restart,” said McGaughey. “I don't want to run him a mile and a quarter after I backed off on him.”

Code of Honor will exit post 5 under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, taking over from Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who will be piloting Grade 1 Kentucky Derby-winner Authentic in the Grade 1 Preakness at Pimlico.

Godolphin homebred Endorsed sports a record of four wins and three seconds from 11 starts as he looks for his first career stakes score for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott.

The regally bred Medaglia d'Oro colt, out of the 2012 Grade 1 Gazelle-winner Dance Card, opened his 4-year-old campaign in January with an optional claiming score at Gulfstream Park for former conditioner Kiaran McLaughlin. Following a fifth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, Endorsed was transferred to the care of Mott and promptly won an optional-claiming tilt traveling 1 1/16-miles on May 2 at Oaklawn Park.

Endorsed proved stubborn down the lane with a prominent trip to be second in the Grade 3 Westchester ahead of a seventh in the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile. Last out, the versatile bay completed the exacta behind Spinoff in the restricted nine-furlong Alydar on August 9 at Saratoga.

Mott, in search of his first Kelso win, said Endorsed will appreciate the turn back in distance.

“I think the one-turn mile is good for him,” said Mott. “I think that he's effective from a mile to a mile and a quarter, but he seemed to run real good here in the one-turn mile and a sixteenth in the Westchester.”

Junior Alvarado will have the call from post 3.

Klaravich Stables' lightly raced Grade 1-winner Complexity will look to give four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown a second Kelso score following Patternrecognition's winning effort in 2018.

The 4-year-old Maclean's Music bay won the 2018 Grade 1 Champagne at second asking at Belmont but was tenth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile to complete the campaign. Complexity made three sophomore starts with an optional-claiming score on Big Sandy sandwiched between off-the-board efforts in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont and the Grade 1 Malibu in December at Santa Anita.

Complexity kicked off his 4-year-old season with a smart 2 ¼-length score over Win Win Win in an optional-claiming mile on July 2 at Belmont, but had to settle for second to that same rival last out in the Grade 1 Forego contested through a rainstorm over a sloppy Saratoga main track on August 29.

Complexity will emerge from post 4 under Jose Ortiz.

Long Lake Stable's Stan the Man, trained by John Terranova, scratched out of last Saturday's six-furlong Grade 2 Vosburgh to enter the one-turn mile Kelso. Although cross-entered in Saturday's Grade 3 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, he will compete at Belmont this weekend.

A veteran of 24 career starts, the Broken Vow chestnut boasts a record of 7-7-2 and enters from a last-to-first score in the restricted Tale of the Cat at six furlongs on August 20 at the Spa.

Stan the Man, who won the 2019 Queens County at the Big A, will be in search of a first graded stakes score in his fourth attempt. The gelding was sixth in the 2018 Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct; a front-running second in the 2019 Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont; and fifth in the 2019 Grade 2 True North.

Eric Cancel, aboard for the Cigar Mile effort, will guide Stan the Man from post 2.

Ron Paolucci Racing's Mo Dont No, a 7-year-old Ohio-bred son of Uncle Mo who is cross-entered in Friday's Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland, will instead make his New York debut in his 45th career start.

Trained by Anthony Quartarolo, the multiple stakes-winning Mo Dont No boasts a record of 20-10-3 with purse earnings in excess of $1 million. Two starts back, Mo Dont No captured the Governor's Buckeye Cup for the third time when traveling 10 furlongs against fellow Ohio-breds. He enters the Kelso off a flat sixth in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Charles Town Classic held August 28.

Manny Franco picks up the mount from the inside post.

The Kelso is slated as Race 8 on Saturday's 10-race program, which offers a first post of 12:40 p.m. Eastern. America's Day at the Races will present daily television coverage of the 27-day fall meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete America's Day at the Races broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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Doctor Mounty Headlines Pimlico’s Oldest Stakes Race, The Dinner Party

Already a four-time winner of the race, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey will go after No. 5 with Maryland-loving multiple graded-stakes winner Doctor Mounty in the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2) Saturday, Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

The 119th running of the Dinner Party for 3-year-olds and up on the grass is part of a Preakness Day program of 12 stakes races, seven graded, worth $2.7 million in purses featuring the $1 million Preakness (G1) for 3-year-olds and $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) for 3-year-old fillies.

Previously run as the Dixie, Pimlico's oldest stakes race and the eighth-oldest in the country was named the Dinner Party for its 1870 debut and contested at two miles. The distance has changed eight times over its history, settling at the current 1 1/16 miles in 2014.

Larry Pratt and Dave Alden's Doctor Mounty snapped a five-race losing streak when he returned from a brief freshening with a front-running 1 ¾-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Henry S. Clark Sept. 7 at Laurel Park. It was his first victory since his previous trip to Maryland, when the now 7-year-old gelding rallied to win the Prince George's County by a length last June.

The Clark was Doctor Mounty's sixth win from nine lifetime tries at Laurel, including the 2018 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3). Based at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., where he breezed a half-mile in a bullet 47.40 seconds Sept. 26, Doctor Mounty has yet to race at Pimlico.

“He's doing fine. He's been there at Fair Hill and he's trained well there, so we'll take a shot,” McGaughey said. “He likes Laurel, so [the Clark was] a good spot to try and start him back again.”

In the Clark, Doctor Mounty was reunited with jockey Forest Boyce, who has ridden him to five of his Laurel wins including all three stakes. She and the 2019 Tropical Turf (G3) winner will team up again from Post 6 in a field of seven for the Dinner Party.

McGaughey's previous wins came with Hall of Famer Lure (1993), Parading (2009), Ironicus (2015) and Fire Away (2018), when it was rained onto the main track.

“Forest rides him really well, so I think that's one of the things that's helped, too,” McGaughey said. “He's made more than a half-million dollars, he's won some stakes and won some graded-stakes. He's been off and on a little bit but we gave him a little time this summer. We thought about taking him to Colonial [Downs] but when that fell through [the Clark] was the next logical spot, [and] here we are.”

Trainer Graham Motion, who won with Dr. Brendler in 2003 and Better Talk Now in 2006 and was third the past two years with Just Howard, counters with the pair of True Valour and Irish Strait. R. Larry Johnson purchased Irish-bred True Valour over the summer and the 6-year-old debuted for his new connections Sept. 5 in the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic (G1), pressing the pace before fading to seventh.

True Valour has gone winless in seven tries since taking the City of Hope Mile (G2) last October, his first start in eight months after winning the Thunder Road (G3), both at Santa Anita. Winner of the 2018 Ballycorus (G3) at Leopardstown in Ireland, he will be ridden by Julian Pimentel from Post 1.

“I think the mile and an eighth in Kentucky was a little far for him. I think shortening up to a mile and a sixteenth is going to help him,” Motion said. “He's pretty straightforward; I just think distance is going to be a bit limited for him. Last time was just a bit too far.”

Isabelle Haskell de Tomaso's homebred Irish Strait is a half-brother to Irish War Cry, millionaire winner of the 2018 Pimlico Special (G3). Irish Strait earned his own graded triumph in the 2017 Red Bank (G3) and has run second or third four times since in graded company.

After more than a year between races, Irish Strait has started twice this year with a third in the 1 1/16-mile Oceanport Aug. 9 and a fourth to Analyze It in the one-mile Red Bank Sept. 5, both at Monmouth under jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. Trevor McCarthy will be aboard for the Dinner Party from Post 5.

“He's run twice this year and run pretty well. Just looking over his form, he almost never gets beaten more than four lengths. Since last January he's just been very consistent,” Motion said. “He's 8 now so at some point in time it's going to catch up to him, but I thought in the Red Bank [trainer] Chad [Brown] won it with a filly coming off a long layoff with a pretty nice horse, a Grade 1 type horse. Jorge felt like he made a mistake by taking back little bit, and he was only beaten 4 ¼ lengths.”

Also in with a pair of horses is trainer Mike Maker, Somelikeithotbrown and Hembree, who will break side-by-side from Post 2 and 3, respectively, under Paco Lopez and Daniel Centeno. Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable's Somelikeithotbrown, 4, captured the Bernard Baruch (G2) July 26 at Saratoga for his second career graded triumph, while Three Diamonds Farm's Hembree won the 2018 Nearctic (G2). The 6-year-old hasn't visited the winner's circle since the 2019 El Prado but placed six times in 13 tries, all stakes.

Gaining Ground Racing's Factor This, beaten less than a length after setting the pace in the Turf Classic, cuts back to a distance where the 5-year-old owns four wins from seven starts, the most recent coming in the June 20 Wise Dan (G2) for trainer Brad Cox. It was part of a three-race streak interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic following victories in the Muniz Memorial Classic (G3) and Fair Grounds (G3). An 11-time winner of nearly $1.1 million in purse earnings, Factor This drew outside Post 7 with Florent Groux.

Rounding out the field is O Dionysus, a stakes winner on turf and dirt for previous trainer Gary Capuano making his third start since being purchased by Irvin S. Naylor for $135,000 last December. The 6-year-old gelding has won stakes in each of his first four racing seasons but is 0-for-2 in 2020, finishing off the board in the United Nations (G1) and Henry Clark. This will be his third straight year in the race, running fourth in 2018 and fifth in 2019.

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Code of Honor Pointing for Kelso Handicap

Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) will not be back to defend his title in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and will instead make his next start going a mile in the GII Kelso H. at Belmont Oct. 3.

“I said all along after the Whitney that I was going to start all over again,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “I thought the Kelso was a good spot to start over again, running him at a mile instead of a mile-and-a-quarter in the Gold Cup after he’s been away for 2 1/2 months. We’ll run him at the mile, see what happens and take it from there.”

McGaughey said that if Code of Honor runs well in the Kelso, he will be pointed for either the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile or the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Code of Honor was placed first in the 2019 Gold Cup after Vino Rosso (Curlin) was disqualified for interference.

Code of Honor got off to a fast start this year, winning the GIII Westchester S. June 6 at Belmont. He subsequently finished third in the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. and, in his most recent start, fourth in the GI Whitney S.

“With him, it got all messed up because of COVID and no racing for a while,” McGaughey said. “Those races got bunched up. I probably made a mistake running him in the Metropolitan Mile. If not for COVID, I could have run him opening day at Belmont, in the Met Mile on Belmont Day and then in the Whitney in the first part of August. The spacing would have been a lot better. That wasn’t to be.”

Code of Honor worked Monday morning at Belmont, going five furlongs in 1:02.81.

“He worked good this morning,” McGaughey said. “Javier (Castellano) worked him and he came back and said that he worked really good and that there was a lot left in the tank. I’ll sharpen him up next Monday and we’ll take it from there.”

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