Honor A. P. to stand at Lane's End Farm upon retirement

Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P. will be retired to Lane’s End Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career, the farm announced Friday. The 3-year-old is from the first crop by sire Honor Code, who also stands at Lane’s End, and is his highest earner.

Honor A. P. has finished first or second in each of his four starts, winning the Santa Anita Derby in his last outing June 6, and establishing himself as a favorite for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby. 

“He’s a horse that we have had an eye on since David Ingordo bought him as a yearling for Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable,” Bill Farish said. “He was a standout at Saratoga and at $850,000 ended up being the highest priced yearling in Honor Code’s first crop. April Mayberry was quietly touting him while being broken and John Shirreffs has been high on him since he arrived at Santa Anita. 

“We are very excited to secure another prospect from the A.P. Indy line. As is the case with most of our stallions, having a strong syndicate behind them is very important to their success. We are emboldened by the quality of the syndicate that has come together to support him. His looks, pedigree and his growing resume as a top racehorse gives him a great chance to be a successful sire.”

Honor A. P. debuted Aug. 17 at Del Mar, racing greenly to be second. He won his next start at Santa Anita in October as the 2-5 favorite, drawing away to win by 5 1/4 lengths. 

Before he could race in 2020, he suffered a stone bruise in February which briefly sidelined him, and he was second in his comeback and 2020 debut to Authentic in the San Felipe (G2) on March 7. He subsequently defeated the previously unbeaten Authentic next out in the Santa Anita Derby, while posting a 102 Beyer, the highest of any 3-year old colt currently on the Derby trail.

“I think we started seeing something in Honor A. P. when he started to gallop, and he started to lengthen his stride,” the trainer Shirreffs said. “If you ever see him, he just floats over the ground. He’s only just begun to show his potential.”

Lee Searing said Honor A. P. was named, “in homage to his grandsire, the breed shaping A.P. Indy. It has always been my goal to race a horse of this caliber and to stand him at Lane’s End. I plan to keep an interest in Honor A. P. and help make him a top stallion.” 

Honor A. P. is out of the multiple Grade 1 stakes winner Hollywood Story, who earned $1,171,105 in her career. He is a half-sibling to three black-type or graded black-type winners. 

Hollywood Story has produced yearling and weanling fillies by Curlin and Tapit, respectively, in the past two breeding seasons.

His sire, Honor Code, was one of 36 foals from the last crop of A.P. Indy and is currently the second-leading second-crop sire in the country. His dam’s sire Wild Rush, like Honor Code a previous winner of the Met Mile (G1), hails from the Icecapade line, was eventually exported to Japan, and has produced 28 stakes winners out of his daughters. 

Honor A.P. will have one more start before the Kentucky Derby.