Code of Honor, Tacitus work for Jockey Club Gold Cup

Code of Honor and Tacitus, the 1-2 finishers from the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24, both put in workouts Sunday morning in preparation for their next meeting in the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 28.

At Belmont, Code of Honor worked a half-mile in 50.71 seconds before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.84, six furlongs in 1:15.24 and seven furlongs in 1:29.00 according to Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch.

Trainer Shug McGaughey told the New York Racing Association’s communications department that Code of Honor “has done everything right since the Travers and put his weight back on real quick.”

At Saratoga, Tacitus, runner-up in the Travers, Jim Dandy and Belmont Stakes, was credited with a half-mile workout in 48.49 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. Tacitus had a target in Channel Maker, said trainer Bill Mott, who added that Tacitus galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.60, six furlongs in 1:14.40 and seven furlongs in 1:28.40.

Mott, who was in Kentucky on Sunday and at Belmont on Monday, said he saw the workout on video and that Tacitus “looked like he was just galloping.”

Mott said Channel Maker is on schedule for the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch here on Oct. 5. Channel Maker won the Joe Hirsch last year.