Honor Code Finalizes BC Classic Preparations
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Photo:
Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Multiple Grade 1 winner Honor Code turned in his final breeze for the Grade 1, $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic early Sunday morning at Belmont Park, going four furlongs in 48 seconds under the cover of darkness on the main track.
"He did very well, everything is very good with him," said Honor Code's trainer, Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. "We caught him from the three-eighths pole to the mile-and-three-eighths pole in 48, with his last three-eighths in 35 and four. It was pretty dark, which is why we breezed there."
Owned by Lanes End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm, Honor Code won two of the most prestigious races on the NYRA circuit earlier in the year - the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and the Grade 1 Whitney - but enters the Classic off a disappointing third-place finish as an odds-on favorite in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap at Belmont.
The 4-year-old A.P. Indy ridgling is likely to meet stiff competition in the October 31Classic, including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Pacific Classic heroine Beholder, and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup victor Tonalist, who finished second and third behind Honor Code in the Met Mile and Whitney, respectively, and logged his final breeze for the race on Saturday at Belmont.
"All you can do is take him over there and see what happens," McGaughey said. "I couldn't be happier. I wish they were running it today so I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore."
Source: NYRA Communications
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