Derby Watch: Code of Honor just might be Orb version 2.0 for Shug

The first time Shug McGaughey ran horses in the Kentucky Derby, he was all of 33 years old and on the fast track to what has proven to be a Hall of Fame career. He was hoping a Derby win would come quickly, “to get it over with,” as he put it this week.

But it took another 29 years for McGaughey to finally tick off that box and get a Derby win, with Orb in 2013. And the wait – which included a runner-up finish by Easy Goer in 1989 – made it all the sweeter, he said.

“I think it made me appreciate it that much more,” McGaughey said on a national teleconference.

McGaughey, 68, has had a mere seven runners in the Derby. The horse takes him there, not the other way around. It was Orb who got him there following victories in the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby. And he’s hoping Code of Honor can follow a similar path this year.

Like Orb, Code of Honor has been based in winter in Florida, where he won the Fountain of Youth last month. He has his final Derby prep on Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream, and a strong performance would move him on to Churchill Downs.

McGaughey would love for history to repeat.

“A friend of mine said a Derby win doesn’t wash off,” said McGaughey, who said the Derby win was “a huge thrill.”

“But trainers say the second one is as good as the first, and I hope to have that opportunity,” he added. “It’s exciting to be in this position.”

It was hard work to get here. Code of Honor did not have a smooth transition from 2 to 3. After finishing second in the Champagne Stakes in October, he took ill prior to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and had to be scratched, then disappointed badly in the Mucho Macho Man in January. McGaughey decided to train Code of Honor more aggressively, and the colt responded to what was being asked, as evidenced by the Fountain of Youth.

Orb and Code of Honor have similar physiques but different ways of going about their work, McGaughey said.

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“Neither one is a big, robust kind of horse,” McGaughey said in a telephone interview this week. “Orb, we felt like he got better as he went along all winter. Obviously, we’re hoping for the same with Code of Honor. To the naked eye, it looks like he is.

“Orb was of a workingman’s kind of horse. If you pushed the button, he went. Code of Honor is a lot more efficient.”

That maneuverability benefitted Code of Honor in the Fountain of Youth, as he was able to split horses and get to spots at critical points in the race under John Velazquez.

“Johnny probably had to push the button earlier than he wanted. They were going fast, but speed carries at Gulfstream,” McGaughey said. “It wasn’t quite as clean a trip to my eye as it might have been to the public eye.”

Orb bounced out of the Florida Derby better than ever and touted himself with a brilliant final work during Derby week at Churchill Downs. First things first for Code of Honor. He needs to get through the Florida Derby with the kind of performance McGaughey is expecting. And if he does, “I’d sure look forward to the next few weeks,” McGaughey said.

In other Derby developments:

◗ Jose Ortiz will take over as the rider on Improbable when he makes his final start before the Derby in the $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 13 at Oaklawn Park, according to Elliott Walden, the president and chief executive of co-owner WinStar Farm. Improbable, who won all three of his starts last year, including the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, suffered the first loss of his career when narrowly losing a division of the Rebel at Oaklawn. He has been ridden in all his starts by Drayden Van Dyke.

◗ Instagrand is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 6, and Flavien Prat will be his rider if he goes there, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said. Instagrand was ridden by Javier Castellano in his only start at 3, the Gotham at Aqueduct on March 9, but Castellano has opted to ride Vekoma in the $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 6.

◗ Bill Mott said that Country House, fourth in the Louisiana Derby, could race again prior to the Derby in order to pad his points total. He currently has 30 points. “We haven’t ruled anything out,” said Mott, who mentioned the Arkansas Derby and Blue Grass as possibilities. “Thirty could put him on the edge. Plus, a million-dollar race is nothing to sneeze at. He’s a big, tough horse.”