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Code of Honor, Midnight Bisou Breeze Towards Weekend Stakes

Will Farish’s Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) breezed a half-mile in :49.04 (XBTV video) at 5:30 Monday morning over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga, completing his preparations for Saturday’s GI Whitney S. The nine-furlong event offers the winner a fees-paid berth in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 7.

Working beneath his regular exercise rider Lexi Peaden, last year’s GI Runhappy Travers S. hero went his opening quarter in :25.1 and galloped out five-eighths of a mile in 1:01.2 to the satisfaction of Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

“That’s exactly what we wanted. I just wanted him to have a little bit of work and that’s what I asked for him to go in,” said McGaughey, who has saddled Personal Ensign (1988), Easy Goer (1989) and Lane’s End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm’s Honor Code (2015) to win the Whitney. “I always breeze him on the Monday before he runs on Saturday. That seems to put him on his game. He’s had two good works up here and he seems to be doing fine.”

Code of Honor will be making his third start of the season in the Whitney, having won the GIII Westchester S. ahead of a solid third-place effort to Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Runhappy Met Mile June 20. Four-time Whitney-winning jockey John Velazquez has the call in a field topped by Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike).

Not long after Code of Honor left the track, champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) tuned up for Saturday’s GI Personal Ensign S. presented by NYRA Bets with an easy half-mile spin that was timed in :50.55 at Oklahoma. Midnight Bisou, the Saudi Cup runner-up who exits a dominating 8 1/4-length success in the GII Fleur de Lis S. at Churchill June 27, will be ridden by Ricardo Santana, Jr., with Mike Smith unable to travel from California.

The Personal Ensign is also a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race for the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

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Pastures of Point Lookout Honors Wyeth Memory

After spending many years helping to teach incarcerated inmates life skills and equine care, a lot of 10 retired Thoroughbreds boarded a van July 23 bound for Pasture of Point Lookout, a Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania-based sanctuary farm founded by world-renowned artist Jamie Wyeth in memory of his late wife Phyllis. On the anniversary of her passing Mr. Wyeth turned to longtime friends, Graham and Anita Motion of Herringswell Stables.

“To honor my late wife, Phyllis Mills Wyeth and her Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, I am transforming our farm into a retirement sanctuary for racehorses,” Jamie Wyeth explained. “I view Pastures of Point Lookout as a lasting reminder of the contributions to the world of horse racing by Phyllis and her champion, Union Rags.”

Anita Motion will serve PPL as its executive director. The farm used by PPL has been modified to support the “pasture lifestyle” to which the TRF horses have become accustomed over their many years at the TRF Second Chances Program at Wallkill.

“It has been a remarkable experience to participate in the creation of Pastures of Point Lookout and to enable Mr. Wyeth to realize his dream for a legacy in his wife’s honor,” said Anita Motion. “Watching the horses step off the van on Tuesday and soak in the beauty of their new home was genuinely like experiencing a dream come true.”

The horses will live together, as they did for so many years at Wallkill, in a natural pasture setting. Run-in sheds will provide shelter from the sun and inclement weather, water is available from a nearby stream flowing through the farm, and the two full-time farm managers will manage their hay and grain, to supplement the abundant grass of their 20 acre pasture. All expenses for the operation of the farm along with the feed, farrier and veterinary care required by these horses will be covered by Pastures of Point Lookout according to the TRF’s Adoption Policies.

“When I first received Anita’s call to share this idea in late January of this year, I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. It simply seemed too good to be true,” said Kim Weir, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving at the TRF. “In less than six months, and despite all the challenges we have faced around the world in 2020 due to COVID-19, the dream has become a reality. With this bold and generous gesture, Mr. Wyeth has given ten horses the happiest possible final chapter of their lives while saving twenty total – the ten adopted by PPL, and the next ten retired racehorses that the TRF can accept into our herd to take their places over the months ahead.”

To learn more about adopting a horse from the TRF at https://www.trfinc.org/adoptretire/

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Keith James Asmussen Gets First Career Win

Calling it “the greatest win we’ve ever had” a little more than 24 hours after saddling a Grade I winner at Saratoga, trainer Steve Asmussen watched as his son Keith James Asmussen earned his first career victory as a jockey, guiding Inis Gulaire (Bernardini) to a head success in the Sunday maiden special weight finale at Lone Star Park (video).

The 22-year-old had ridden 16 races prior to Sunday, with four runner-up efforts–including in his first career ride June 15–and three thirds among them.

“It’s a dream come true,” the jockey said. “You know Lone Star has been open for 24 years and…my earliest memories are of coming here, so to get a win here is just surreal.”

Following the family celebration, Asmussen’s fellow jockeys carried him to the nearby fountain for a dip, a Lone Star tradition to mark a rider’s first win.Courtesty

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Maximum Security Exits San Diego in Good Order; Pacific Classic or Woodward Next

Champion Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) was “good” Sunday morning following an all-out effort for a nose victory in Saturday’s GII San Diego H. at Del Mar, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert told the Del Mar notes team.

“I actually thought he was pretty good right after the race being that I only had him about 80%,” Baffert said. “I didn’t think he’d have to do a stop-and-go movement [during the race] but he showed what a great horse he is.”

Making his first start for Baffert, first in five months, and under new jockey Abel Cedillo, Maximum Security vied with Midcourt (Midnight Lute) for the lead through the first quarter in :23.74, dropped back to third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Midcourt at the half-mile mark, rallied to draw even with an eighth of a mile to go and prevailed by a nose at the end of the 1 1/16-mile race.

“It’s a good starting point, we learned a lot about the horse, now we’re caught up and he’s ready to go,” Baffert said.

Either the GI TVG Pacific Classic Aug. 22 at Del Mar or the GI Woodward S. Sept. 5 at Saratoga is next for the 4-year-old, Baffert added, with the former a more likely proposition.

“The Pacific Classic or the Woodward, depending … but I like the Pacific Classic,” Baffert said. “He brings his racetrack with him. He’s got a lot of will to win, he’s courageous and a smart horse. There’s just something about him, he’s got a lot of will to win. He’s got a lot of W’s by his name and there’s a reason for that.”

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