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150TH TRAVERS STAKES

August 24, 2019

Saratoga Springs, New York

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Code of Honor. Can we start with your thoughts, Shug, on the race, where you're watching Code of Honor and Johnny's trip throughout? What were your thoughts?

SHUG MCGAUGHEY: We were sitting where I thought we wanted to be, back there at the three-eighths pole. He wasn't doing anything yet so I was a little bit worried there. But I think Johnny knows him now and knows the weight, and you have to let him be watching something to keep his focus.

And I don't think he's got a real long run, I think he needs to get it done in a hurry because he's not one to get in a real long groove and run with another horse and stuff.

So we were able to do it. We had a decent pace in front of us. And Johnny did exactly what he had sort of portrayed to me in the paddock about -- he said he was going to, we were going to save some round, go around the first turn, he was going to try to get him out, going down the backside and three-eighths pole just try to have him in a position where we could make a run if we had a horse.

Q. Mr. Farish, your thoughts watching the race today?
W.S. FARISH: It was just fantastic, and we had been hoping for him and looking for him to do what he did today. But it was better than we ever anticipated.

Q. Shug, can you talk about his campaign this year starting in Florida, then going to the Kentucky Derby, and then from the Dwyer pointing to this race?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: I think the first race in Florida might have been Shug's mistake a little bit. Maybe he wasn't really ready. I thought he was, but he had been sick stick in Louisville. But I'm bad, and I brought him back and I didn't run him in the Rimson (phonetic).

And we shipped him to Florida. But after that race he taught me a little something. One, his running style, we chased a little bit in the Mucho Gusto, and I started doing a little bit more with him in his training. And he responded well in the Fountain of Youth.

And I thought he was doing fine from the Fountain of Youth to the Florida Derby, and we caught a very speed-favoring track. And Maximum Security got on the easy lead. And it took us completely out of our game plan.

And then I knew going -- coming to the Derby, he was training good and I thought he ran a good race. He was still a little bit, I think, both physically and mentally immature. And when all the problems were going around the quarter pole and stuff I think it affected him a little bit too, maybe not enough to where it made a difference; he finished third and that's where he finished.

But I knew going into the Derby or my thoughts going into the derby, if he didn't win the Derby that I wasn't going to run in the Preakness or the Belmont. And this is where I wanted to be; this is where I wanted the summer horse. I knew where the Dwyer was.

I thought the Jim Dandy was four weeks and then four weeks. But it wasn't, so I elected to give him that much time in between. He's not a hard horse to train. So I wasn't worried about that. And it all worked out.

Q. Mr. Farish, can you comment on winning your first Travers race? 2007 was close with Grasshopper, but to get this win today with Code of Honor?
W.S. FARISH: It's been fantastic. We've been at this, planning for this, looking forward to this for a long time. And this was just a remarkable day in every way, particularly with this horse, with Shug. The whole show was what we've been praying for and it all came to pass.

Q. Shug, can you talk about any instructions you had for Johnny this week or before the race today?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: No, I hadn't talked to Johnny until in the paddock here. And I told him, I said, you know what we want to do. We've got the tool. Let's save some ground and make it one run.

And he came with a couple of pointers for me that he was thinking, and I said that sounds like good to me. And that's exactly the way he rode him.

Q. Today was your fourth Travers victory. You knew how to get here and you had the plan from the Dwyer. What does it feel to achieve that success and the plan?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: Well, your plan doesn't always work out. But this one worked out. And when it does work out, it's exciting. And Mr. Farish has been good to me, the Farish family, for years and years.

And to have a horse like him, we had Honor Code a few years ago, but this one is Mr. Farish's, and he seems to have taken a liking to him. To be able to win a race like this for him and his family and Lane's End Farm means a lot to me.

Q. What does this do for your positioning in the three-year-old race?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: Well, I mean, we still -- everybody's still got a little bit of work to do. I mean, I don't see how really anybody can be above him.

Maximum Security did win the Derby, then they took them down. War of Will won the Preakness, but he's kind of gone off form since then. So, our horses are in form. We have won three graded stakes now this year, now Grade 1. We were put up to be second in a Grade 1. We were third in another Grade 1. And we won a Grade 3.

So his race record, when you look at it, pretty darned good. And I would have to think when I get to talking about him here next week and stuff, he's going to be one of them they're going to be talking about?

Q. Shug, may I also ask if you want to go on to the Pennsylvania Derby or what you're leading toward as next?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: Well, as I said the other day, I haven't really counted the Pennsylvania Derby out. But it probably isn't my topic. But where I'm going to go next, I don't really know.

I mean, you've got the Jockey Club Gold Cup down the road and there's some other spots. Where are we going to point him to, we'll let the horse tell us in the next week or so, and Mr. Farish and I will talk about it. And we'll figure out a game plan.

Q. Shug, the jockeys obviously expressed some concerns about the glare from the signs in the infield. Did you have any concerns before the jockeys brought their concern to the stewards?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: Today? I didn't know about it, but I will say I like to watch it on the billboards, the billboards in front of there, I didn't see glare but I couldn't them very well.

Q. The signs that were set up on the turf course, just inside, inside the eighth pole.
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: I didn't know anything about it. That was one thing I didn't have to worry about.

Q. Shug, when did you really start feeling comfortable that you had this race while the race was going on today?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: I think leaving the quarter pole I thought we had a pretty good chance. I knew they had been running up in front of us and I knew he was going to be finishing. Then at the eighth pole we got to him, I knew we were going to probably be able to outfinish him.

But obviously in a horse race you never know what's going to happen. But at the three-eighths pole my confidence wasn't really high but at the eighth pole it was really high.

Q. Shug, what were you thinking when you saw Tacitus go to the front?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: I wasn't surprised I thought when they put the blinkers on him it might put him where he was. I don't know if that's what they wanted to do. But he wouldn't have been one I would have said that I think he will be up on the pace. I thought the Bikini horse and Tax and I thought Stanley Hustle might show a little bit. But when I looked up and he was on top, I wasn't surprised.

Q. Curious, you said that Johnny gave you a few tips on it. What were they?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: Well, we just talked about saving the grand around the first turn and said he would get him on the outside going out the backside have him positioned to do something at the three-eighths hole. We both know that we can't chase, if we want to make that run like he did today and that was pretty much what he said.

Q. Shug, since he's fired so well fresh, did that give you a little bit of confidence today does that at all play into how you pursue the rest of the year?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: Well, I think it has to a little bit, Dave. He has done very well with space in between his races. And I mean running a mile and a quarter and ran 2:01 today and I'm going to say it's going to take a little something out of him.

So we're going to have to keep our eyes on him and go from there. And with a guy like this, there's going to be no hurry.

Q. Shug, you were talking a couple days ago about your history in this race. Can you just describe what it means to get back in the winner's circle here in that context?
SHUG MCGAUGHEY: I've been really excited all week. I've been excited about the way the horse is doing. When he worked here on Monday, you know, it was really, for me, it was something to see. And so I've been excited. And I was excited today. I wasn't nervous. I was excited. I was ready to get it on.

But the Travers is a race I've always liked. Got beat a couple times before I ever won it. I was ready to win it when we won it, and we've had a little bit of success in it since we have. Being this being number four, it's a big thrill.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

150TH TRAVERS STAKES

August 24, 2019

Shug McGaughey

W.S. Farish