Honor Code gives handicap division a leader

With Shared Belief and California Chrome out for the year for some time now, the handicap division has been begging for someone to step up and take control. So we all looked at Saturday’s renewal of the Whitney at Saratoga and its seven Grade 1 stakes winners for deliverance. And this Whitney certainly delivered. In spades. I’ll admit that after once thinking he was a router and then coming to believe he was really a one-turn horse, I was wrong about Honor Code. I thought the Whitney had one turn too many for him. But there wasn’t one turn too many Saturday for Honor Code. In fact, there was barely enough ground for him in this nine-furlong race. Honor Code got up very late but very determinedly. And now, the combination of his Whitney victory and his sensational score in the Met Mile on Belmont Stakes Day makes Honor Code the clear leader among currently active older males. But Honor Code is the clear leader of his division more on accomplishment than on an actual edge in ability. Yes, Honor Code came from 40 miles out of it to win the Whitney, and it is always easy to be taken when any horse makes up the kind of ground he did Saturday. But you have to remember Honor Code closed that ground into a strong pace.

The Whitney’s six-furlong split of 1:09.72, set under pressure by Liam’s Map, was the fastest six-furlong split all day on Saratoga’s main track by a significant margin, in both routes AND sprints. For that reason, the runner-up Liam’s Map ran a huge race to be beaten only a neck. Liam’s Map, who had won four straight after finishing second in his debut in a well-spaced career, was making his first start in a graded stakes race Saturday and his first start in a race as far as 1 1/8 miles. He did all the dirty work, running hard every step of the way, and though it’s tough to nail down, I also think he jumped the tire tracks left by the starting gate in the late stages. In any case, it can be argued that Liam’s Map ran as well as Honor Code. That’s one reason why Honor Code’s current ranking as the top active handicap horse is largely accomplishment based. Unfortunately, Tonalist was an undistinguished third in the Whitney. Yes, Tonalist was way out of it early, but Honor Code was actually a little farther back. And despite the fact that he was beaten less than two lengths for all the money, Tonalist never looked like a serious threat to win.

There are a few ways to assess Tonalist’s Whitney effort. One is to conclude that he just isn’t as effective as he was when he was at his best last year. Another is Tonalist just isn’t as good at Saratoga (he had excuses in his two losses here last summer, but they weren’t his sharpest races, either). I suspect it’s the latter, but we’ll find out for sure when Tonalist gets back to Belmont this fall. Daily Racing Form Senior Editor Irwin Cohen raised an interesting point after the Whitney: What if, for whatever reason, American Pharoah doesn’t run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic? That could mean Honor Code could conceivably win the Met Mile, the Whitney, say the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic and NOT be Horse of the Year. That would be something, but the fact that the discussion even came up underscores how American Pharoah now permeates every aspect of the game, including races he’s not in. In the days leading up to the Whitney, speculation of how American Pharoah might fare against that strong field of older horses was rampant on social media, and not surprisingly, the topic popped up again after the Whitney. It’s all guesswork, of course, and I speak as an unabashed American Pharoah fan, but I think he would have fared quite well in the Whitney.

American Pharoah has a high cruising speed and yet is perfectly comfortable conceding the lead. So he would have had no difficulty tracking Liam’s Map from close range and still having something in reserve for the end game. And that last point is important. And that is because if there was anything that wasn’t terrific about this Whitney, it was a last eighth of a mile run in a slow 13.16 seconds.

Quick notes ** Saturday’s other Grade 1 event was Saratoga’s Test, won most impressively by Cavorting. Cavorting has really found herself as a closing sprinter, and there isn’t any reason why she can’t be equally effective this fall against older female sprinters. It’s not like that group is so imposing that an improving 3-year-old like this filly couldn’t give them all they could want.

Take Charge Brandi was a different matter. Last year’s champion 2-year-old filly was making her first start back from injury, and despite falling out on a clear lead through easy fractions, she surrendered in the stretch to finish last. Mercifully, this outing should put a stop to the notion of running Take Charge Brandi in the Travers. I think it is well past time for the quick official to go away.

The quick official, which really came under scrutiny earlier this year when Upstart’s jockey, Jose Ortiz, said he was denied the opportunity to claim foul against Materiality in the Florida Derby, now is a contributing factor to some specious foul claims from both jockeys and trainers. Horsemen are using foul claims for the purpose of slowing down the quick official process and allowing the stewards to take another, or closer, look at infractions, both real and imagined. If the quick official process needs to be slowed down so the stewards get the time to adjudicate the sport properly, then the quick official potentially is doing more harm than good. Like many others, the supposed benefits of the quick official escape me. What’s the big hurry? Many times it takes three minutes or so to post the prices, anyway. Give those minutes back to the stewards and give them the chance to do it right.