Honor Code to Prepare for Classic at Belmont

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey will prepare Honor Code in New York for the two-time grade I winner's planned Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) start Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

McGaughey will keep Honor Code comfortable at his home base at Belmont Park, and the trainer said he will choose between two or three works there for the 4-year-old from the final crop of A.P. Indy.

"We're going to work here and then we'll ship to Keeneland as late as possible," McGaughey said. "We have to be there Wednesday so I'd say we'll get there on Tuesday (Oct. 27) before the race."

The Classic will be Honor Code's first career try at 1 1/4 miles. Rather than prepare for the Classic with a start in the 1 1/4-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) Oct. 3 at Belmont, McGaughey opted to prep in the one-mile Kelso Handicap (gr. II) there the same day. Although Honor Code finished third in that race, which was his first start in nearly two months dating to his Aug. 8 win in the Whitney Stakes (gr. I), McGaughey said Honor Code got what he needed out of the Kelso effort, finishing in a drive in the final three furlongs under Javier Castellano.

Honor Code, carrying 6 to 10 more pounds than his six Kelso rivals, rallied from sixth to finish third, making up 2 1/4 lengths in a final quarter-mile completed in :24.97 after racing five wide in upper stretch. Although the finish wasn't to the same level he delivered with his spectacular come-from-behind wins in this year's NYRA.com Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) at Belmont and Whitney at Saratoga Race Course, McGaughey said he got enough out of the effort to build on it in the coming weeks.

Campaigned by Lane's End Racing and breeder Dell Ridge Farm, Honor Code is just the ninth horse in history to win the Met Mile and the Whitney in the same season. He rallied from tenth—14 lengths back—to win the Met Mile, then alleviated concerns about his two-turn prowess by rallying from last of nine—19 1/4 lengths back a half-mile into the 1 1/8-mile Whitney—to edge Liam's Map by a neck. 

Of course Honor Code's sire, A.P. Indy, won the 1992 Breeders' Cup Classic after taking the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) earlier that season.