Code of Honor will try to get back on track in Fayette
ELMONT, N.Y. – Code of Honor, the 2019 Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Fayette Stakes on Oct. 30 at Keeneland, trainer Shug McGaughey said Monday. McGaughey is hoping to use the Fayette as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $750,000 Clark Handicap on Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs.
After being off seven months following the Pegasus World Cup in January at Gulfstream Park, Code of Honor won the Grade 3 Iselin Stakes on Aug. 21 at Monmouth Park. That seemed to set him up for a good effort in the Grade 1 Woodward at Belmont Park on Oct. 2, but Code of Honor didn’t fire and finished fourth, five lengths behind winner Art Collector.
“One, I don’t think he liked eating all that dirt,” McGaughey said, reflecting on the Woodward. “Two, those horses had been running in good company and I just think he wasn’t ready for it. That’s why I want to run him back in the Fayette.”
McGaughey said Tyler Gaffalione would ride Code of Honor in the Fayette.
Monday, Code of Honor worked a half-mile in 49.30 seconds over the Belmont main track. He did his best work past the wire, galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.47 and six furlongs in 1:13.94.
“He seemed to work good and come back good,” McGaughey said.
Meanwhile, McGaughey will have two runners in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Noble Damsel at a mile at Belmont, In a Hurry and Flower Point. Both are coming off an allowance win over the Belmont turf.