Code of Honor ready to take advantage of second chance at Churchill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Six months later, trainer Shug McGaughey still wonders what might have been in the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs. Now, the Hall of Fame trainer wonders what might be in the Kentucky Derby.

On the morning of Nov. 2, McGaughey had to scratch Code of Honor from that afternoon’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile after the colt had developed a temperature the previous day. Coming off a strong second in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park and a series of solid workouts, Code of Honor was the third choice on the Juvenile morning line and was the buzz horse leading up to the race.

“I was disappointed and I’m still disappointed in it because I thought he was coming into the race so good, and his works at Belmont had been so good, and then the way the race set up we could have had a big chance,” McGaughey said Sunday morning at Churchill Downs. “Whether that would have happened or not, who knows? We were just unlucky, so hopefully we get lucky this week.”

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Code of Honor is back at Churchill for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby where he figures to lay under the radar despite a strong half-mile work in 47.07 seconds Sunday morning over the main track. The work was Code of Honor’s third since he finished third in the Florida Derby on March 30 at Gulfstream Park. All three have come in Kentucky, where McGaughey decided to ship Code of Honor a couple of days after the Florida Derby. Code of Honor spent most of April at Keeneland.

Code of Honor was based at Payson Park in Florida since early December. McGaughey said that keeping him in Florida “was going to be the same old thing.”

“I said ‘Let’s change things around a little bit, get up here,’” said McGaughey. “I knew the weather would be colder – I didn’t know it was going to be this cold.”

The temperature on Sunday morning dropped to the upper 40s by the time training ended.

“I think he had a really good month at Keeneland,” said McGaughey, who vanned Code of Honor to Churchill on Wednesday.

Sunday’s work gave McGaughey confidence that Code of Honor is ready for Saturday. He will be McGaughey’s first Derby starter since Orb won this race in 2013 as the favorite.

“I’m good. I really like what I saw this morning,” he said. “We’re six days out and got plenty of time to do what we need to do with him. Hopefully, he’ll bounce out of his work in good shape.”

That John Velazquez has stuck with Code of Honor despite two losses from three starts this year has given McGaughey confidence. Velazquez and McGaughey both believe Code of Honor was up against it in the Florida Derby where Maximum Security was able to get loose on the lead and set a slow pace.

“When you get a horse to go as slow as they could run like Maximum Security did over a speed-favoring track, and you’re a mid-pack, one-run sort of a horse, he had to move a little earlier than he wanted to, got hung up down on the inside,” McGaughey said. “He felt the same way I did – it just didn’t work out.”