Code of Honor all set for showdown with McKinzie in Met Mile

ELMONT, N.Y. – Code of Honor completed preparations for a scheduled start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap by working a half-mile in 49.66 seconds on Monday morning over the Belmont Park main track.

Under exercise rider Lexi Peaden, Code of Honor went his opening quarter in 26.28 and got his final quarter in 23.38 while galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.78 and six furlongs in 1:15.63. The main track was back-raked early in the morning, owing to rains that hit the area Sunday night.

“I thought he went really well,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “Came back well, see what happens.”

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Code of Honor, who is coming off a victory in the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes here June 6, was made the 124-pound Met Mile second highweight to McKinzie, last year’s Grade 1 Whitney winner trained by Bob Baffert. McKinzie, who will be ridden by Mike Smith at 125 pounds, is coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Triple Bend on June 7 at Santa Anita, his seventh graded stakes victory.

“He’s got to travel,” McGaughey said of McKinzie, who is based in Southern California. “We’ll have to see him sometime, I guess. Might as well see him now.”

Code of Honor is 3 for 4 at Belmont Park, with victories in the Grade 3 Dwyer and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last year in addition to the Westchester. His lone loss was a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Champagne as a 2-year-old.

John Velazquez, a five-time winner of the Met Mile, will ride Code of Honor.

On Sunday, McKinzie worked six furlongs in 1:12.20 at Santa Anita. He was scheduled to ship to New York on Tuesday.

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Code of Honor and McKinzie are expected to headline an eight-horse field in the Met Mile, which offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

Others expected to enter the Met Mile, with riders and weight assignments, are Vekoma (Javier Castellano, 123), Mr Freeze (Manny Franco, 120), Warrior’s Charge (Florent Geroux, 119), Hog Creek Hustle (Jose Ortiz, 118), Network Effect (Irad Ortiz Jr., 118) and Endorsed (Joel Rosario, 117).

McKinzie, Code of Honor, Vekoma, and Hog Creek Hustle are all Grade 1 winners. Hog Creek Hustle won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens here last year, beating Nitrous by a neck. He is winless in sevens starts since. Most recently, he finished second to Lexitonian in a third-level allowance May 29 at Churchill Downs.

“I was looking for a soft spot where we could get a win under his belt, but unfortunately Lexitonian ran a big race that day and we just couldn’t run him down,” trainer Vickie Foley said.

The plane bringing McKinzie to New York from California will stop in Kentucky to pick up Hog Creek Hustle, Mr Freeze, and Warrior’s Charge. On Monday, Mr Freeze worked a half-mile in 49.60 at Churchill Downs.