Vino Rosso, Code of Honor Exit Gold Cup in Good Order

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Vino Rosso and W.S. Farish's Code of Honor emerged from their battle in the $734,250 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Sept. 28 at Belmont Park in good order, according to their trainers.

Vino Rosso nosed out Code of Honor but was demoted to second following a stewards' inquiry and jockey's claim of foul.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said he was disappointed with the disqualification.

"Vino Rosso came out of the race terrific. He cooled out well last night, and he was full of himself this morning," he said. "To me, it was a classic horse race from the top of the stretch to the finish line. Two horses hooked up and they brushed, but, to me, no horse was ever knocked off stride and neither horse lost momentum because of it.

"It was a piece of race riding; Irad (Ortiz Jr., aboard Vino Rosso) drifted out a little bit, Johnny (Velazquez on Code of Honor) drifted in a little bit. I've watched a lot of races and I felt pretty comfortable watching the head-on (replay) there would not be a disqualification and I was surprised when there was."

Pletcher said there are no plans to appeal the stewards' decision.

"I don't believe there will be an appeal. I spoke to both owners last night, and they were sort of split," Pletcher said. "They agreed they would not appeal, but I plan to meet with the stewards today as well to get an explanation of what they saw. I didn't feel like I saw the same thing, but seldom in these appeal situations does anything ever come out of it."

Pletcher said the strategy for Ortiz was "to come out of the gate and not necessarily expect to be on the lead, but we got a clean break and no one else took the initiative. I thought he had a good trip and seemed very comfortable being on the lead. We felt he's the kind of horse if he has time to see his competition, which he did, he can dig down and find a little more. He was able to keep his head in front, and I thought it was a gallant effort on his part."

Pletcher said Vino Rosso is demonstrating a preference for the 1 1/4-mile distance as he matures.

"A mile and a quarter is an ideal distance for him. He has a high cruising speed, and he's able to keep running those fractions quarter after quarter, similar to what he did in the Santa Anita Gold Cup (G1)," he said. "That's one of the reasons we decided to pass on the Woodward (G1) and go to the Jockey Club."

Despite the disappointment, Pletcher said Vino Rosso will be pointed to the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park.

"We feel good about it. He seems to be maintaining his form. He started out the beginning of the year going a mile, and we're counting yesterday, essentially, as a win," Pletcher said. "He's maintaining form and getting better all the time. We always felt that the older he got, the better he'd get, and that seems to be the case."

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey said Code of Honor also came back well from his win Saturday. The victory made the son of Noble Mission  a likely frontrunner for the division championship. 

"He came back fine," said McGaughey, who previously won the Jockey Club Gold Cup with Valandingham (1985), Easy Goer (1989), and Miner's Mark (1993). "He looked good last night, and he looked good this morning. We'll see as we go along."

While McGaughey did not rule out a start in the Classic, he did not make any commitments. 

"I'll see how he comes out of it and talk to Mr. Farish as the week goes along, and we'll make up our mind," McGaughey said. "I'll possibly give him some time and try and bring him back in the spring. Maybe the Carter (G1) at Aqueduct and the Westchester (G3) here."

McGaughey believes the Jockey Club Gold Cup win puts Code of Honor atop the 3-year-old division. 

"I was very confident going into the Travers (G1)," McGaughey said. "I was confident going into this race that he was going to run his race, but stepping up against some nice older horses, you never know until you try. I was very pleased with the way he ran, and to step it up against some accomplished older horses was a big accomplishment for Code of Honor."

McGaughey said the stewards made the right call to elevate Code of Honor. 

"I thought we were (the best horse). I thought we had that horse, and we got banged and he came out and hit us a couple of times," he said. "You can see how much Vino Rosso drifted out, and Johnny said the second time he hit him, it kind of knocked him off balance. He came back and finished and got beat a nose, so I thought we were the best."

Trainer Bill Mott's assistant Leanna Willaford said Tacitus, who finished third in Saturday's test, was also in good order Sunday morning before heading back to Mott's Saratoga Race Course base.

"He looked good this morning and ate up his feed. We put him on the van and he's headed back up to Saratoga," Willaford said.

Imperial Hint Keeps Marching to Breeders' Cup Sprint

The day after Raymond Mamone's Imperial Hint battled back in the stretch to edge Firenze Fire by a nose in the $300,000 Vosburgh Stakes (G1), winning trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr. said the color finally returned to his face.

"My friend (and fellow trainer) Arnaud Delacour texted me to congratulate me and said, 'Why do you look so pale in the (winner's circle) picture?'" Carvajal said with a laugh. 

It was a second consecutive top-level win for Imperial Hint, who scored by four lengths in the July 27 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga.

"He came back last night; we waited a couple of hours to give him dinner, and he went right into the feed tub," Carvajal said. "This morning, his feed tub was clean, and he looks happy. We went over him, and everything looks perfectly fine and I couldn't be happier with how he came back from the race."

Imperial Hint earned an all-fees paid entry to the six-furlong, $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). He finished third in the race last year at Churchill Downs.

Carvajal said winning the Vosburgh for the second straight year could be a useful springboard to stay sharp.

"Last year, he won it easy and was geared down towards the end, and sometimes that doesn't help the horse," he said. "After seeing him run yesterday and fight back, I think this race really was good for him. It should get him ready for the Breeders' Cup."

Carvajal said Imperial Hint seemed to dislike the Churchill track last year. He is hopeful the horse fares better at Santa Anita, where he will be racing for the first time. The 6-year-old son of Imperialism has won at six tracks.