Code of Honor Surges to Travers Score

Triple Crown races are an extremely enticing lure for horsemen.

Yet for a wise, experienced trainer like Shug McGaughey, avoiding part of the storied series to point for a midsummer gem such as the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) was much easier now than it might have been a couple of decades ago for the 68-year-old Hall of Famer.

"I couldn't have done this years ago," the Hall of Famer said. "One of the lessons I learned from (2013 grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner) Orb  is that I made a mistake. I had to run him in the Preakness (G1). I shouldn't have run him in the Belmont Stakes (G1). That always went through my head afterwards."

Orb never won a race after the Kentucky Derby, and the lesson learned back then came to the fore Aug. 24. McGaughey stuck to a plan he devised in May and was rewarded with a fourth win in the Travers when William S. Farish's Code of Honor and fellow Hall of Famer John Velazquez posted a three-length victory over favored Tacitus.

A reported crowd of 48,213 at Saratoga Race Course helped build a record Travers Day all-sources handle of $52,129,344.

"We wanted to have a summer horse, and this (was) where I wanted to be and where we got it," McGaughey said after winning the centerpiece of the Saratoga meet for the first time since 1998, tying Elliott Burch for the second-most Travers victories.

It didn't take McGaughey long to pivot from spring to summer. Immediately after the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) winner was elevated to second in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, he ruled out the Preakness and Belmont Stakes and circled Travers Day on his calendar.

Using a victory in the July 6 Dwyer Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park as the homebred son of Noble Mission 's lone prep, he trained Code of Honor with expert precision during the next seven weeks and came into the Travers with a horse who gave him an unusual amount of confidence.

"I was confident that he had a big chance. I had about as much confidence today as I have had in a long time," he said. "I was confident I couldn't have done a better job than I had done. It was the best I could do."

Needless to say, the best McGaughey could do was good enough to provide the 80-year-old Farish with his first Travers win.

"He was someone we've been hoping for," Farish said about Code of Honor, a homebred produced from the Dixie Union mare Reunited. 

Whether the Travers is enough to crown Code of Honor as the champion 3-year-old male is a lively debate, especially with Maximum Security, the disqualified Kentucky Derby winner, and 2-year-old champion Game Winner missing the 1 1/4-mile classic. Yet Code of Honor certainly boosted his stock in the summer's premier stakes for the division.

"Everybody still has some work to do, but I don't see how anybody can be above him. His race record is pretty darn good," McGaughey said about the winner of three of six starts in 2019 who was second in the Champagne Stakes (G1) as a 2-year-old.

The lack of a clear-cut leader in the 3-year-old division was reflected in the bulky field of 12 that turned out for the Travers.

While there was little shock about Tacitus being the 2-1 favorite, there was some surprise in the early stages. Equipped with blinkers for the first time by trainer Bill Mott, Juddmonte Farms' normally late-running homebred son of Tapit  took the early lead after an opening quarter-mile in :23.11 while Code of Honor was content to bide his time in ninth.

"Really, we thought they'd go ahead and clear us. We thought that Mucho Gusto (and) Tax (would) clear us, and Looking At Bikinis we thought might clear us," Mott said. "We made the choice beforehand to go ahead and try and get him in the race, let him break, and if they want to try to outrun you, make them work for it a little bit."

As the field turned onto the backstretch, it was TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) runner-up Mucho Gusto who took the lead by a length, with Tacitus settling into second on the rail and Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) winner Tax alongside him. 

As the field reached the quarter pole, Tacitus and Mucho Gusto were locked in a battle for the lead after a mile in 1:35.49.

They stayed together to the eighth pole, when Code of Honor arrived on the scene outside them. After rallying about eight wide, Farish's homebred rushed past the dueling leaders and drew off to cross the wire in 2:01.05 and pay $10.80 to win while giving Noble Mission, a Lane's End stallion, his first grade 1 winner. 

The Travers score improved Code of Honor's record to 4-2-1 from eight starts, with earnings of $1,885,820. His dam produced a Karakontie  colt in 2018 and a son of Honor Code  May 1. She was bred to Quality Road  for 2020.

"I never had any doubts about distance as a problem, just him putting his mind to running," Velazquez said after his second Travers score. "Today, I made sure, when I got him out to the clear, he responded right away, so I was very happy for him. Obviously, we've been looking for this kind of performance for a long time. He's a (May) foal, not really knowing what to do (even though he's) run some really big races. He's never really put it together until today."

Tacitus, who was moved up to third in the Kentucky Derby and finished a wide second in the Belmont, bested Mucho Gusto for the place by a half-length, adding another runner-up finish to his 2019 résumé that now includes two wins, three seconds, and a third in six starts.

"Hey, the winner came running," Mott said. "I had one eye on the winner and one eye on mine. It looked like there was a good chance we were going to outduel Mucho Gusto, but the winner, I mean, he rolled by pretty fast.

"No excuses. Looking back, I don't know what else we could have done."

Michael Lund Petersen's Mucho Gusto, trained by Bob Baffert, settled for third, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Godolphin's Endorsed.

Farish's second Travers starter, the Chad Brown-trained Highest Honors, wound up sixth on a day that will be remembered for a plan coming together perfectly.

"The plan was to have a summer horse," the winning trainer said. "I didn't want to take a chance and mess that up."

As you might expect from McGaughey, he didn't.

Video: Runhappy Travers S. (G1)