SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – William Farish and his family will be in Saratoga this week to watch two colts he owns participate in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes. It was not supposed to be that way.

Farish put both Code of Honor and Highest Honors through the auction ring as yearlings at Keeneland in September 2017, but neither horse brought the reserve placed on them. The bidding on Code of Honor, a son of first-year stallion Noble Mission, topped out at $70,000. Meanwhile, Highest Honors, a son of the hot stallion Tapit, brought a last bid of $750,000.

“We value the colts and try to put a reserve two-thirds of where we think they’re valued,” Bill Farish Jr. said. “Occasionally, we get it wrong. Sometimes we sell them after the sale if someone’s willing to get to the number we want. For whatever reason, the market didn’t like them as much as we did.”

If they could talk, Code of Honor and Highest Honors might say, “How do you like me now?”

Code of Honor, trained by Shug McGaughey, is a multiple graded stakes winner with $1.2 million in earnings. Highest Honors, trained by Chad Brown, is 2 for 3, including a victory in the Curlin Stakes, and is developing into an exciting prospect.

Farish Jr. said Code of Honor “was always a nice type, a little smaller than some of the crop and a little slower to mature. That could have added” to people being hesitant to spend a lot of money on him.

“People like to see a nice, big finished yearling at the sale, and he was still maturing at that point,” Farish added.

Code of Honor was sent to McGaughey with some hype, but it wasn’t until a workout here last summer that McGaughey thought he might have a runner.

“The way he galloped out was a little bit different than some of the ones that had been around here lately,” McGaughey said.

Code of Honor debuted at Saratoga last August, winning a six-furlong race by 1 1/2 lengths. He then finished second in the Grade 1 Champagne after stumbling badly at the break. Code of Honor was pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but was scratched the morning of the race with a temperature.

In his 3-year-old debut, Code of Honor finished a dull fourth in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes. It was after that race that McGaughey started training Code of Honor more vigorously. It paid off with a win in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.

“He likes training. You wouldn’t think a little horse like him would, but he’s so efficient in what he does,” McGaughey said.

Following a third-place in the Florida Derby in which he was compromised by a lack of pace, Code of Honor went to the Kentucky Derby as a live longshot. At the top of the stretch, Code of Honor slipped through an opening along the rail and was right alongside Maximum Security. When Maximum Security came back over after bearing out, Code of Honor got a bit intimidated, according to jockey John Velazquez. He continued on to finish third, before being elevated to second following the disqualification of Maximum Security from first.

Farish Jr. said either Code of Honor was intimidated “or he didn’t want the mile and a quarter. That’s what we have to wait and see in the Travers. He ran a huge race. We were thrilled with his effort.”

McGaughey made the conscious decision to skip the remainder of the Triple Crown and point to a summer campaign. Step one in the plan worked out perfectly as Code of Honor ran a very strong mile, wining the Grade 3 Dwyer by 3 1/4 lengths. McGaughey then skipped the Jim Dandy to prepare for the Travers.

“I think dad would have done the same thing,” Farish Jr. said. “It’s so tough to stay on [Triple Crown schedule] with a young 3-year-old unless there’s a real reason to do it. Especially this horse, who’s just maturing in front of our eyes and continuing to do better and better, grow and fill out.”

Highest Honors was close to his debut at the Belmont fall meet but suffered a chip in his ankle in an early September workout. He did not make it to the races until April 20 at Keeneland, where he finished a troubled-trip second in a 6 1/2-furlong race. He won a maiden race June 1 at Belmont before scoring a 1 1/2-length victory in the Curlin on July 26.

“He’s always been one of our favorites of the crop,” Brown said. “He’s come a long way fast and only a really talented horse can do that, and he’s very talented, I believe.”

Said Farish Jr., “Chad texted us back in February that this was his Travers horse. It’s hard to believe. I don’t know if he’ll be ready for this big a step up. It’s only his fourth start.”

The Farishes are due some good fortune in the Travers. In 2007, Grasshopper was beaten a head by Street Sense. The following year, Mambo in Seattle was beaten a nose by Colonel John.

“This is a race dad has always wanted to win, obviously everybody feels that way,” Farish Jr. said. “It’s incredible for him, at this point, to have two runners he owns 100 percent of. It’s so rare as it’s usually a partnership of some kind that we have. We know it’s a one-off, we’re hoping it happens with either one.”

This story was originally published on DRF.com. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Albeit uniquely, trainer Bill Mott was able to cross winning the Kentucky Derby off his bucket list when his longshot Country House was elevated to first from second by the Churchill Downs stewards following the controversial disqualification of Maximum Security.

Saturday, Mott will try to cross winning the Travers off his bucket list when he sends out probable favorite Tacitus against 11 3-year-olds in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers – Saratoga’s marquee race, which is being run for the 150th time – and do something only two other horsemen have done.

Should Tacitus win, Mott would become just the third trainer to win the Kentucky Derby and Travers in the same year with different horses. In 1918, Henry McDaniel won the Derby with Exterminator and the Travers with Sun Briar. In 1925, William Duke won the Derby with Flying Ebony and the Travers with Dangerous.

“I’ve already done the Derby now I got to try and do the Travers,” Mott said Thursday morning. “Now, we just got to do it a different way if we can.”

Tacitus needs a different type of trip from post 6 in the Travers than he had in the Belmont Stakes, where he raced five wide and finished second to Sir Winston. He also needs a little bit better fortune than he had in the Jim Dandy, when he stumbled badly at the break and finished second to Tax.

“I think we’re just looking for that breakout race and for him to have his day in the sun, so hopefully the Travers will be that day,” Mott said earlier this week at the post-position draw. “I don’t think anybody owes us anything. Nobody stumbled but him last time; nobody made him do it. He had the wide trip in the Belmont, but stuff happens, right? We’ll hope things go better for him this time.”

Mott is adding blinkers to Tacitus’s equipment. He has trained very well in them, including a five-furlong workout in 1:00.69 last Saturday. Jose Ortiz was up for that work and said he thinks the blinkers make Tacitus better.

While Mott is seeking his first Travers victory, trainer Shug McGaughey is seeking his fourth. McGaughey sends out Code of Honor, who was moved from third to second in the Kentucky Derby and who comes off a win in the Grade 3 Dwyer on July 6 by 3 1/4 lengths. McGaughey purposely skipped the Jim Dandy with Code of Honor to have a fresh horse for the Travers.

“He needs to be ridden right. He’ll get ridden right,” said McGaughey, who has John Velazquez aboard Code of Honor. “He’s a one-run horse. You got to be patient with him, get him a trip. In the Derby, he was compromised a little between when [Maximum Security] came back over a little, but I think he flinched a little and it took away from his run a little bit.”

Code of Honor is owned and bred by William S. Farish, as is Highest Honors, who breaks from post 3, one slot outside of Code of Honor. Highest Honors, trained by Chad Brown, has made only three starts and steps into the Travers off a 1 1/2-length win in the restricted Curlin Stakes here on July 26. Despite his limited experience, Highest Honors has Brown excited that he could win his first Travers.

“I’ve been planning for this race for a long time,” Brown said. “I’ve always thought he wanted a mile and a quarter, and he couldn’t possibly be training any better.”

Jose Ortiz has ridden Highest Honors in all three of his starts, but is committed to ride Tacitus. Luis Saez, the regular rider of Maximum Security, will ride Highest Honors.

Brown also sends out Looking At Bikinis, who set the pace before fading to third when racing along a dead rail in the Curlin. He figures to be a forward presence on Saturday under six-time Travers-winning rider Javier Castellano.

The main speed of the Travers looks to be Tax, the winner of the Jim Dandy. Tax drew post 12, and his trainer, Danny Gargan, believes that will force jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. to come away from the gate running.

“There’s a long run down the stretch. I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting over,” Gargan said. “If we can get a half in 47, 48, it’ll be perfect. If everyone gets scared and takes back, I’ll slow it down.”

Trainer Bob Baffert has won three Travers, including two of the last three with Arrogate and West Coast. He called an audible on Monday and decided to ship Mucho Gusto, the Haskell Invitational runner-up, from California for this race. Joe Talamo is here to ride.

Owendale, the Ohio Derby winner; Laughing Fox, fifth in the Preakness; and Everfast, second in the Preakness are all stone-cold closers who would benefit from some pace.
Owendale has been training steadily at Churchill Downs, from where he shipped to run well in his last three starts.

“His works have been phenomenal,” said Cox, including an Aug. 10 workout that Cox said he went five furlongs in 1:00.60 and out six furlongs in 1:13.40, but was not recorded by Churchill Downs clockers. “The bottom line with this horse is he’s doing as good as he can do.”

Endorsed, a son of 2002 Travers winner Medaglia d’Oro, ran a creditable second in the 1 1/8-mile Curlin, stretching out from a six-furlong allowance win in June, his first start of the year.

Scars Are Cool enters the Travers off a maiden win going 1 1/8 miles here on July 21. On Thursday morning, he blew out three furlongs in 36.13 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.

Chess Chief was the runner-up in the West Virginia Derby at odds of 35-1 for Dallas Stewart. He picks up the services of Mike Smith.

The Travers goes as race 11 on 13-race card that begins at 11:35 a.m. and includes six other graded stakes. The Travers will air on FOX during a one-hour broadcast starting at 5 p.m. Eastern.

This story was originally published on DRF.com.