Code of Honor will skip Remsen Stakes

Shug McGaughey is not totally satisfied with how Code of Honor is training, and he will keep the talented 2-year-old out of Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, the trainer said Tuesday.

Under regular rider John Velazquez, Code of Honor worked five furlongs in 1:01.48 Monday morning over Belmont Park’s main track, and though McGaughey said the work was fine, neither he nor Velazquez feels the horse is training as well as he was before the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Code of Honor was forced to miss the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs after spiking a temperature the night before the race.

“He said it doesn’t feel like his energy level was where it was before we went to Louisville,” McGaughey said. “I don’t want to take him over there and run him a mile and an eighth over that deep track.”

McGaughey said Code of Honor would leave New York Monday morning for Payson Park, a training center in South Florida. McGaughey said he would look to run Code of Honor in Florida early in 2019.

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Code of Honor, a son of Noble Mission owned by Will Farish, won his maiden at first asking at Saratoga and finished second in the Grade 1 Champagne after stumbling at the start.

Code of Honor’s defection leaves Maximus Mischief, unbeaten in two starts at Parx, as the probable favorite for the Remsen, entries for which will be taken on Wednesday.

Network Effect, runner-up in the Nashua Stakes, and Bourbon War, a debut winner at Aqueduct on Nov. 14 are considered definite.

Kentucky shippers in Demoiselle

Kentucky-based runners Positive Spirit and Molto Bella are expected to be in what looks like a short field of six for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle for 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.

Positive Spirit, a three-quarter sister to 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, is coming off a maiden win on Nov. 8 at Churchill. She was flown to New York on Monday, one day after breezing a half-mile in 48 seconds Sunday at Keeneland.

“Her breeze yesterday was absolutely beautiful,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “It’s maybe out of the ordinary to run her back in three weeks, but with all the good signs she’s showing I’m not shy to do it.”

Manny Franco will ride.

Trainer Ian Wilkes has three in the juvenile fillies stakes category. He opted to run Champagne Anyone and Princess Causeway in last Saturday’s Golden Rod at Churchill and send Molto Bella here. Molto Bella shares ownership with Champagne Anyone, who finished fourth in the Golden Rod to longshot winner Liora.

Molto Bella finished second to Mother Nature in the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Wilkes said he hopes to learn about Molto Bella’s distance capability in the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle.

“You don’t know until you really try,” he said. “I have to try and see what she can do.”

Others expected for the Demoiselle are Tempted runner-up Enliven, Afleet Destiny, Filly Joel, and Jennifer’s Dream.