Code of Honor Takes Jockey Club Gold Cup

In a year when the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) was decided via disqualification, the stewards at Belmont Park may have settled the 3-year-old championship.

In May, William S. Farish's Code of Honor was elevated from third to second when Maximum Security was dropped from first to 17th, and Sept. 28, another disqualification decided a major grade 1 stakes and lifted the son of Noble Mission  one notch higher on the toteboard.

Down the stretch, the $734,250 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) produced a scintillating duel between the 3-year-old Code of Honor and the 4-year-old Vino Rosso. They were side by side, inches between them, for the final frantic furlong.

Code of Honor, who rallied from fourth in the field of five under John Velazquez, seemed poised to move past his older foe but was unable to get by as Vino Rosso and Irad Ortiz Jr. held on by a nose.

Then, in an encore of the Kentucky Derby, numbers started blinking on the toteboard, and the winner came down by a unanimous decision of the stewards.

Head-on video showed the pace-setting Vino Rosso coming out and bumping Code of Honor a few times, leading to the disqualification of the Todd Pletcher trainee. The decision gave Code of Honor his third consecutive win since the Kentucky Derby for trainer Shug McGaughey, including the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1).

"It's not the way you want to win, but the other horse came out into us a bit, and he battled back and only got beat a nose. When he came back, it showed how good of a horse he is," McGaughey said. "This is a good horse. He's made so much improvement since the Derby. I couldn't be any prouder of him than I am."

That pride was also reflected on the face of Farish, the 80-year-old owner/breeder who recorded his second win in the Gold Cup and first since Mineshaft  in 2003.

"This was huge. He's a wonderful horse who has come on for us and done so well. It was a tough, tough race," Farish said about the homebred out of the Dixie Union mare Reunited. "I felt 50/50 about the inquiry, but I said we better go down (to the winner's circle) because they don't put the inquiry up at Belmont Park just for fun. Maybe other places in the country, but not here. Once we saw the picture and the jockey said he got bumped three times, I felt better."

In a year in which three horses won the three Triple Crown races and none have won a race since, and a 31-1 shot, Math Wizard, won last weekend's Pennsylvania Derby (G1), Code of Honor's impressive résumé for an Eclipse Award also sports victories in the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and Dwyer Stakes (G3) in seven starts.

That might prove to be enough to put him in the driver's seat over Maximum Security, who has victories in the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) and TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) but missed the Pennsylvania Derby because of a colon ailment.

"I would have to think he's the top 3-year-old," McGaughey said. "Who's done more? Maximum Security's won a couple of grade 1s, but where's he now? We've been going since (Jan. 5), and I think that says a lot. Nobody else has beaten older horses, and we've beaten all comers."

McGaughey was less sure about future plans for Code for Honor, who secured a free spot in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park by winning the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race.

"We'll see how he comes out of it and talk with Mr. Farish, and we'll figure it out from there," McGaughey said.

Farish said a trip to California for the Classic was "up in the air."

"We'll see how he does after today and decide what to do," Farish said. "He needs a rest somewhere because we are definitely going to run him next year. But on the other hand, he comes out of his races well, and the Breeders' Cup is certainly a possibility."

With a small field, there was some uncertainty over who would set the pace in the 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup. That role fell to St. Elias Stable and Repole Stable's Vino Rosso, a son of Curlin  who led by a length over Juddmonte Farms' Tacitus through fractions of :47.73 and 1:11.63.

Passing the quarter pole as Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner and 9-5 favorite Preservationist failed to fire and Tacitus was unable to cut into Vino Rosso's lead, Velazquez moved the Travers winner into contention earlier than anticipated.

When Code of Honor caught up with Vino Rosso in the stretch, McGaughey expected him to go by like he did in the Travers when he won by three lengths at the same distance.

"I thought we had (Vino Rosso) at every jump, and then he came out," McGaughey said. "I thought there was a good chance he could come down."

Velazquez said Vino Rosso bumped his horse "a little bit" as they crossed the wire in 2:00.30.

"Honestly, he came out and bumped my horse on me," he said. "I had put a head in front of him, and he bumped him. It kind of got my horse off balance for the second time when he bumped him. And now he puts the head in front of me, and I'm trying to get back in front of him and he beats me by a head or a nose or whatever it is.

"It was a perfect trip, no complaints at all. Just when we got to the eighth pole, he bumped me a little bit, just enough to get my horse off balance."

Vino Rosso's co-owner Mike Repole was across the Atlantic Ocean in Italy and saw things differently as his horse became the first winner of the Gold Cup to be disqualified since 1927.

"The stewards are totally inconsistent," he said via email. "'Vino' ran great and Irad ran a smart race. We will be tough in the Breeders' Cup."

The consolation prize for Vino Rosso's connections is that their horse turned in a solid prep for the Breeders' Cup Classic, and he already owns a grade 1 win at the Classic distance on the track as he won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1) this year.

Tacitus was four lengths behind in third, beating Centennial Farms' Preservationist by a length.

The win was the fifth in nine starts for Code of Honor and lifted his earnings to $2,298,320.

Video: Jockey Club Gold Cup S. (G1)