Iselin winner Code of Honor likely to try Woodward next

Code of Honor showed everything his connections might have hoped for off a seven-month layoff Aug. 21 in the Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth. He ran fast, he won easily, and he appears to have come out of his race in good shape.

“He seems fine,” trainer Shug McGaughey said Tuesday. Code of Honor shipped back to McGaughey’s barn at Saratoga following the Iselin. “We walked him a few days and we’ll take him back to the track tomorrow. He’ll bounce out of it quick.”

Code of Honor, jockey Paco Lopez taking his foot off the gas the final half-furlong, beat West Will Power by 2 1/2 lengths in the Iselin. He ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast dirt track in 1:42.38, which produced an excellent 105 Beyer Speed Figure. Only Knicks Go has earned a Beyer of 110 or higher in North America during 2021.

The figure fell right in line with the best numbers the 5-year-old Code of Honor hit during his 3- and 4-year-old seasons. At 3, Code of Honor won the Travers and was placed first in the Jockey Club Gold Cup when Vino Rosso was disqualified, but he since has failed to scale similar heights. After finishing a listless fifth Jan. 23 in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, Code of Honor got an extended holiday.

“We didn’t do anything to him but turned him out. It did him a world of good,” McGaughey said. “When we got him up [to Saratoga] he really trained good on the Oklahoma training track. It’ll be interesting to see how things go. The way he trained, the way he came back and ran fast down there, that puts him where he has a chance with some of the other top horses.”

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If all goes well, Code of Honor likely will return to Grade 1 competition Oct. 2 at Belmont in the Woodward, a one-turn, nine-furlong contest.

“We’ll kind of go from there. Don’t know the Del Mar dirt is going to be real conducive to the East Coast horses,” said McGaughey, suggesting that even if Code of Honor ran well in the Woodward he could then head to the Grade 1 Clark in November at Churchill, a race in which Code of Honor was second last year.