TDN APBs: Honor Code

Just two weeks after Top Billing (Curlin) was taken off the Triple Crown trail with a cracked cannon bone, Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey lost all chance of capturing consecutive renewals of the GI Kentucky Derby when Honor Code (A.P. Indy) was put on the shelf due to a slight tear in his right hind suspensory. The tear was diagnosed the morning after he breezed a half-mile at Gulfstream in :48.12 in advance of a scheduled start in the GI TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct. 

The hulking dark bay was sent to join his sidelined stablemate at WinStar Farm and returned to training at Fair Hill in mid-July. 

“We just gave him plenty of time,” McGaughey commented. “He is back breezing now and will breeze again [Friday]. Everything is going fine. In fact, he is ahead of schedule.” 

Honor Code breezed three furlongs at Fair Hill in :37.20 Sept. 19, which was the second fastest of 12 works at the distance that day. 

“I was very happy with the work,” McGaughey said. “He will work an easy half-mile [Friday]. He will probably breeze one more time after this and then come back to [Belmont] around the first of October.” 

Tabbed as a “TDN Rising Star” after a last-to-first romp through the mud in his Saratoga unveiling Aug. 31, Honor Code made a similar attempt–while running about eight wide–to just miss behind fellow “Rising Star” Havana (Dunkirk) in the GI Champagne S. at Belmont Oct. 5. The sophomore gamely outnosed Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile) next out when kept closer to the pace in Aqueduct’s GII Remsen S. Nov. 30. 

With Honor Code’s sophomore debut delayed by bruised ankles, McGaughey considered bringing the colt–who was training at Gulfstream–to Oaklawn to make his seasonal bow in the GII Rebel S. Mar. 15. He changed his mind when Gulfstream racing secretary P.J. Campo approached him and asked if he would be willing to run the colt there if he filled a two-turn allowance race for 3-year-olds. The ridgling was runner-up to the streaking Social Inclusion (Pioneerof the Nile), who set a new track record in route to a 10-length victory Mar. 12. 

McGaughey does not have a specific race in mind for Honor Code yet, but expects him to make his return to the races in New York. 

“I would hope to race him in another month to six weeks,” he said. “It depends on him. I will let him tell me. Hopefully he will make his first start before I go to Florida.” -Christie DeBernardis