Honor Code

George Hall and SportBLX's Max Player (Honor Code) proved his bounce-back GII Suburban S. score in July was no fluke as he again showed more speed and pulled away to an emphatic victory in the repositioned GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga. A fringe player on last year's Triple Crown trail, the Steve Asmussen trainee has stamped himself as a legitimate GI Breeders' Cup Classic threat in two strong efforts at 10 furlongs, and earned an automatic berth into the year-end championship event Saturday as part of the "Win...

Beach Haven Thoroughbreds' Maracuja (Honor Code) remains on target for next weekend's GI Alabama S. Aug. 21 at Saratoga. The GI Coaching Club American Oaks S. winner covered a half-mile breeze in :47.67 last Sunday while in company on the main track in her first work back since upsetting favored Malathaat (Curlin) in the nine-furlong CCA Oaks July 24. "She went a little quicker than I thought, visually," trainer Rob Atras. "She broke off a little quick and was rolling along and galloped out real nice. I never get too...

With a perfect five-for-five record topped by an impressive score in the GI Kentucky Oaks, 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) was bet like she could not lose a four-horse renewal of Saratoga's GI Coaching Club American Oaks Saturday. However, in the final strides of the nine-furlong event, it was the longest shot on the board, 14-1 shot Maracuja (Honor Code), who dethroned the mighty Malathaat with a narrow upset. All four broke in tandem with Malathaat assuming a narrow lead rounding the clubhouse turn. Maracuja kept the favorite honest through...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued an additional entry to its July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, and an additional two entries to its July Breeding Stock Sale. July Selected Horses of Racing Age: Flags Up (Honor Code) (Hip 675): Three-year-old son of Honor Code set new personal bests for Beyer and Ragozin figures when second, beaten just a head, in an allowance race at Ellis Park July 9. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. July Breeding Stock: Royal Rags (Union Rags) (Hip 454): Three-year-old daughter of Union Rags is out...

When a horse carries a name like this, there can be no evasion or equivocation. With due honesty, then, let us admit that Honor Code is not yet converting his transparent eligibility as a stallion--apparently so watertight in pedigree, physique and performance--in quite the fashion that seemed likely when he produced the luminous Honor A.P. from his very first crop. Not yet. Small, agonizingly flexible words, in the context of a suffocatingly impatient marketplace. By any rational measure, it should still feel like early days in Honor Code's stud career....

The betting public had Saturday's GII Suburban S. down to a battle between a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars': in one corner, Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), whose victory in the G1 Dubai World Cup made him favored at 85 cents on the dollar, and in the other, Happy Saver (Super Saver), who got the better of Mystic Guide when first they eyeballed one another in last year's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and the clear second choice at 8-5. Max Player (Honor Code) had yet to beat a horse of the...

Next weekend's GI Preakness S. continues to take shape as GSW Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro) and Unbridled Honor (Honor Code) are expected to be added to the fray during Monday's draw at Pimlico. Winner of the GIII Withers S. in February, Risk Taking had been initially tabbed to contest the nine-furlong GIII Peter Pan S. at Belmont Saturday, but has been rerouted to join his Klaravich Stables stablemate, Crowded Trade (More Than Ready), in the second jewel in the Triple Crown. Chad Brown trains the colt for Baltimore native Seth...

Several GI Kentucky Oaks-bound fillies put in their final major workouts Saturday morning leading up to Friday's Churchill Downs Classic. Leading the Churchill Downs worktab, Phoenix Thoroughbred's Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map), winner of the Mar. 27 GII Gulfstream Park Oaks in her most recent start, worked a half-mile in :49.20 under Danny Ramsey for trainer Kenny McPeek. "She had a breeze last week in :59, which was a bullet work," McPeek said. "So today I just went a half with her, something simple, again just a basic maintenance work. She's...

Lane's End Farm brought their stallion roster up to 21 members this year as they welcomed several new additions for the 2021 season in Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}), Gift Box (Twirling Candy), Honor A. P. (Honor Code) and Daredevil (More Than Ready). We sat down with Bill Farish and spoke with him on Game Winner and Gift Box, both Grade I-winning millionaires who will join Twirling Candy and Unified in carrying on the Candy Ride (Arg) legacy at Lane's End. Now a perennial leading general sire, Candy Ride began...

It's now or never, guys! The deeper we go into our survey of Kentucky covering options for 2021, the fewer stallions remain standing. And those we reach today, about to launch a third crop of juveniles, have entered a decisive stage of their climb. Two or three are ascending confidently toward the next ridge; a handful are clinging tenaciously to a ledge; but many are now slithering unhappily down through the scree. Several have already disappeared into regional or overseas programs. For now, the leading Bluegrass farms are persevering with...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 9th-CD, $85K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6f, 5:06 p.m. ET Blue-blooded CENTRIFUGE (Tapit), a $700,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, makes his belated debut for Rodolphe Brisset. The half-brother to dual Grade I-winning and sophomore sire Honor Code (A.P. Indy) is out of SW Serena's Cat (Storm Cat), a daughter of multiple-stakes winning Serena's Tune (Mr. Prospector) and a granddaughter of 1995 Champion 3-year-old Filly and Hall of Famer Serena's Song (Rahy). Serena's Cat, a $1.4-million KEENOV purchase in 2003, is also responsible for Noble Tune (Unbridled's Song), a...

George Hall and SportsBLX Thoroughbreds Corp.'s Max Player (Honor Code) will contest the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S. at Pimlico. "I'm very excited because I haven't been in the Preakness yet," said Hall, who won the 2011 Belmont with 24-1 shot Ruler On Ice. "After the Kentucky Derby, he looked like he wanted to keep running. Steve watched him closely, and he was in great shape. He's galloped well. He's breezed well. We felt the horse was at the peak of his game and is ready to run." Winner of...