Greatest Honour on Course to Resume Training Sept. 1

Trainer Shug McGaughey said he expects to have his multiple graded stakes-winning 3-year-old Greatest Honour  back in training by Sept. 1 to work toward a winter campaign.

A homebred son of Tapit   owned by Courtlandt Farms, Greatest Honour won the Holy Bull (G3) and Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) stakes at Gulfstream Park for McGaughey to become a leading Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) candidate. But after finishing a disappointing third as a 4-5 favorite in the Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa (G1), he was inspected by Dr. Larry Bramlage, then taken out of training and given some time off.

"He had an old cyst in a pastern and we gave him time for it to fill in," McGaughey said. "It was nothing major but something we had to get behind him so he could move forward."

McGaughey said the slate of winter graded stakes for older horses at Gulfstream, topped by the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), would be the main target for Greatest Honour, who has won three of four starts at the South Florida track. Before that, McGaughey is hopeful of getting a race into the bay colt in New York, possibly an allowance test or the Nov. 27 Discovery Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"Hopefully we can get a race into him at Aqueduct before we go to Florida," the Hall of Fame trainer said. "The Discovery is in late November and I don't know if he'll make that, though it would be nice. You would like to have a race in him before that, though you can train up to it. The Discovery is something we have talked about."

Greatest Honour, out of the Street Cry  mare Tiffany's Honour, has a record of 3-1-3 in seven career starts with earnings of $422,440.