Sidor: The case for Code of Honor as 3-year-old champ

Finished competing for the year, Code of Honor is getting a well-deserved respite at Lane’s End in Kentucky after facing some of the toughest horses in training in his signature wins.

In fact, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) he faced arguably the strongest field this season of any 3-year-old winner when up against the likes of Grade 1 winners Vino Rosso and Preservationist, in addition to classic-placed Tacitus. Code of Honor also became just the 11th horse to complete a Travers Stakes (G1)-Gold Cup double, joining Hall of Famers like Man o’ War, Buckpasser, Damascus, Arts and Letters and Easy Goer.

All of those but Easy Goer went on to be Champion Three-Year-Old Male, an award I believe Code of Honor could is still in line to receive when Eclipse votes are tallied after the new year.

In the Travers Stakes, trainer Shug McGaughey’s charge took on four multiple graded stakes winners: the aforementioned Tacitus (2), Owendale (2), Mucho Gusto (4), and Tax (2) along with stakes winners Highest Honors and Laughing Fox. Code of Honor also added wins going two turns in Gulfstream Park’s Fountain of Youth (G2) and one in the Dwyer Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park. Officially, he’s also the Kentucky Derby runner-up and the highest-placed horse in that race that didn’t miss time due to physical setbacks in 2019.

The numbers also back Code of Honor as the best 3-year-old male this season. At classic distances, he ran much faster than his peers, with a 106 Beyer in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and 105 in the Travers. Additionally, in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings, Code of Honor is handicapped at a 121 for his best performance of the year, while main division rivals Maximum Security and Omaha Beach are a pound behind at 120.

Historically speaking, Code of Honor has had a championship sort of campaign with a pair of classic-distance Grade 1 victories standard accomplishments for the Eclipse winner...

The Preakness Stakes/Belmont Stakes double was accomplished by Little Current in 1974, Risen Star in 1988, Hansel in 1991 and Afleet Alex in 2005. The Kentucky Derby/Belmont Stakes double was accomplished by Bold Forbes in 1976 and Swale in 1984. In 1983, Slew o’ Gold did the Woodward Stakes/Jockey Club Gold Cup double when the former was contested at 10 furlongs and the latter when it was contested at 12. In 1992, A.P. Indy won the Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Kentucky Derby/Preakness Stakes double was accomplished by Prairie Bayou in 1993, Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998, Charismatic in 1999, Funny Cide in 2003, and Smarty Jones in 2004. In 2010, Lookin At Lucky won the Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational. In 2016, Arrogate won the Travers Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

This is all not to completely dismiss Code of Honor’s main threat for the Eclipse. At this point, I believe it’s a two-horse race between him and Maximum Security. Omaha Beach, second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, will remain in the age group when he runs next in Santa Anita Park’s Malibu (G1) after some brief considerations to go against open company in Aqueduct’s Cigar Mile (G1). It’s unlikely the Malibu will make Omaha Beach and Eclipse Award winner, but he fits as one of the three finalists.

Is Maximum Security in the same position as Code of Honor when that one went into the deep end of the pool for the Breeders’ Cup Classic? Code of Honor stood to state his Eclipse Award case at Santa Anita but came up well short, finishing seventh. Now the door is open for Maximum Security to garner more consideration with a Cigar Mile win, while voters will also wrestle with how to rank these sophomores given a controversial Kentucky Derby disqualification and stewards’ placing of Code of Honor over Vino Rosso in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Whichever of the two receive the trophy, it’s a welcome thought for racing fans that both Code of Honor and Maximum Security are likely to meet again in 2020 as older horses still in training.

Todd Sidor, an attorney by trade, has produced equine law seminars, and continues to be active in racing partnerships. His more than two decades passion and respect for the sport of horse racing will always make him, first and foremost, a racing enthusiast.