Stars & Stripes Wrap: Code of Honor Pointing to Travers, Catholic Boy to Woodward

[Wandering Eyes]

On a day with a host of impressive performances, the sharpest of all may have come from W.S. Farish’s Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), who rallied from last into a slow pace to notch a 3 1/4-length victory in the GIII Dwyer S. despite jockey John Velazquez dropping his whip near the eighth pole. Runner-up in this year’s GI Kentucky Derby, the chestnut passed on contesting the final two legs of the Triple Crown and will now use the Dwyer as a springboard to the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 24 at Saratoga, according to trainer Shug McGaughey. The colt is also possible for a run in the GII Jim Dandy S. July 27 at the Spa.

“Hopefully, we can go through the summer and make our mark,” said McGaughey. “We’re looking for the Travers. I’d like to run in the Jim Dandy, but we’ll see how he comes out of this.”

Code of Honor was one of the horses affected by Maximum Security (New Year’s Day)’s drifting in the Derby, shying when that rival put him in tight at the rail, and McGaughey said his colt’s mental growth contributed to his convincing score in the Dwyer.

“I think it showed a little bit of his maturity and where he’s going,” said McGaughey. “Physically, I think he’s bigger, and I think in the Derby he was still a mentally immature horse. That’s why, when Maximum Security came back over on him, he did what he did. Today, he was back in there. He was eating the dirt. When he had to find the hole, and the horses were kind of going everywhere, he found the hole and he was there.”

Elsewhere in the aftermath of Saturday’s card, dual-surface star Catholic Boy (More Than Ready), runner-up in the GII Suburban S., is likely to stay on dirt for his next start, trainer Jonathan Thomas said. The 4-year-old will be pointed towards the GI Woodward S. Aug. 31 at Saratoga, where he could potentially rematch with Suburban winner Preservationist (Arch). The Woodward would be a slight turnback to nine furlongs from the 1 1/4-mile Suburban.

“The Woodward will be our major target,” said Thomas. “While we think he’s a mile and a quarter horse, I feel more confident cutting him back to a mile and an eighth now more than ever just off of the tactical speed he seems to have.”

Catholic Boy, last year’s Travers and GI Belmont Derby hero, started this campaign with a gritty score in the GII Dixie S. May 18 at Pimlico. In the Suburban, he was a bit headstrong and made an early move down the backstretch before coming up 4 1/2 lengths short to the winner in the lane. Thomas said that other than a few nicks, his charge came out of the race well.

“Overall, he’s pretty good. He’s got a couple little bangs and scratches but nothing big,” said Thomas. “Now that the dust has settled, I thought overall it was a really good effort. Preservationist ran a 108 Beyer and we ran a 102, which is his second lifetime best. We were giving the winner six pounds and it wasn’t the ideal set up. I thought we ran well … Javier said he was a little funny about the kickback and he jumped up on the bridle and worked his way out. I would have preferred to sit behind Preservationist and make one run, but it didn’t work out that way for whatever reason. I don’t think it helped, but I don’t know that it cost us the race.”

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