Kentucky Derby 2019 Radar: Code of Honor's second chance

Trainer Shug McGaughey has spoken with jockey John Velazquez more than once about Code of Honor since his fourth-place finish as the favorite earlier this month in Gulfstream Park’s Mucho Macho Man Stakes.

“All he does is just tell me, ‘Shug, he’s a lot better than that,’” McGaughey said Monday, in an interview on Steve Byk’s At the Races radio show.

With that, Code of Honor, the William Farish homebred by Noble Mission, is expected to hit the 2019 Kentucky Derby trail in his next start.

“I probably hadn’t gotten enough into him,” McGaughey told Byk. “I’m going to kind of step up his program a little bit. I’m still going to point him for the Fountain of Youth with all being right. I would like to see him mature bodily a little bit more — physically. He is a late May foal.”

The Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes runs March 2 at Gulfstream Park. It’s a later season Derby prep that awards points on a 50-20-10-5 scale. Essentially, if Code of Honor wins, he’s in, and memories of a flop in his season debut will be largely forgotten.

The Saratoga maiden winner remains lightly raced. Beyond that debut victory, he has a runner-up in Belmont’s Champagne (G1) last October before he ended a three-month layoff in the Mucho Macho Man.

Along the way, McGaughey entered Code of Honor in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, though he scratched due to an elevated temperature. Then connections passed on the Remsen (G2) in early December when the colt wasn’t working up to par.

“I think we missed a really good opportunity with him at the Breeders’ Cup,” McGaughey said on At the Races. “Nothing against the winner by any means, but he was really on top of his game when I took him there, and then he got sick.”

Code of Honor ended up 7 3/4 lengths behind Mucho Macho Man Stakes winner Mihos, who could also point to the Fountain of Youth along with Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) winner Signalman.

McGaughey noted Code of Honor may have been flat late after closing into a second quarter mile of the Mucho Macho Man that went faster than the first, putting his charge in the 21-second range. Given Code of Honor was a bit slow from the gate and light on conditioning, “I wasn’t altogether surprised” with the result, the trainer said.

In a bit more time, they’ll try again.