Impressive Met Mile win gives Honor Code options

ELMONT, N.Y. – Long or short? One turn or two?

Those are two of the main questions trainer Shug McGaughey must now entertain when it comes to his newly minted Grade 1 millionaire Honor Code, who zoomed from last to first to win last Saturday’s $1.25 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

It was an electric performance turned in by a gorgeous animal with a strong pedigree.

“It makes the horse in every possible way now,” said McGaughey, who was thrilled to capture his first Met Mile.

The win was Honor Code’s second this year, both in one-turn, one-mile races. Honor Code, who did win the Grade 2 Remsen at 1 1/8 miles as a 2-year-old, is by a stallion, A.P. Indy, who figures to produce horses wanting to run a distance of ground.

Over the next few weeks, McGaughey will ponder exactly what to do with Honor Code. Should he want to keep him around one turn, there is the $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship, a seven-furlong race July 4 that could be used as a springboard to the $700,000 Forego, another seven-furlong race at Saratoga on Aug. 29.

There is also the $1.25 million Whitney, a two-turn, 1 1/8-mile race at Saratoga on Aug. 8.

“There’s still a lot I got to learn about him; whether he’s a one-turn, come-from-behind horse, and does he need time between races?” McGaughey said.

After winning his career debut, Honor Code’s other four wins have come off layoffs of eight weeks, nine months, 13 weeks, and five weeks.

Honor Code is 4 for 5 in one-turn races, with a neck loss to Havana in the Grade 1 Champagne at 2. Honor Code has one win in three tries around two turns, that being a nose victory in an oddly run Remsen.

Honor Code earned a career-best 112 Beyer Speed Figure in the Met Mile, which he won by 3 3/4 lengths over Tonalist. The victory earned Honor Code an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 30 at Keeneland.

Tonalist, who suffered his first defeat at Belmont Park when second in the Met Mile, likely will run back in the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban at Belmont on July 4.