Honor A.P.

The GI Santa Anita Derby winner, Honor A. P. (Honor Code--Hollywood Story, by Wild Rush) has been retired following a fourth-place finish in the GI Kentucky Derby during which he suffered an injury, according to trainer John Shirreffs. He is scheduled to arrive at Lane's End Farm Tuesday afternoon to take up stud duties. The 3-year-old colt retires as the top earner of his leading second-crop sire Honor Code. In his most recent start, Honor A. P. dealt with an unlucky trip to finish a closing fourth in the Kentucky...

Using information from the Trakus chart of the GI Kentucky Derby, horse owner, college professor and horseplayer, Marshall Gramm has found that fourth-place finisher Honor A.P. (Honor Code) may have actually run faster than any of his rivals. According to Trakus, Honor A.P. traveled 6,712 feet or 49 feet further than race winner Authentic (Into Mischief). Tiz the Law (Constitution) also lost some ground and traveled 23 feet further then Authentic. For all three horses, their average speed was 37.8 miles per hour. Gramm took an even deeper look into...

Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com takes on TDN's Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap Triple Crown prep races plus the big three races themselves. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets in the preps and $200 Win/Place bets in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Highest bankroll at the end wins. DeRosa - Bankroll: $5480 - Pegasus Result - Skyscanner made no impact at a big price. GI Kentucky Derby - Tiz the Law is my pick to win the GI Kentucky Derby. He is the most likely winner,...

As a Hall of Fame jockey and two-time winning rider of the GI Kentucky Derby, Mike Smith knows his way around Churchill Downs. After having his morning-line favored mount Omaha Beach (War Front) scratched the week of the race last year, Smith is back aboard a major contender in Saturday's Run for the Roses. Wednesday, the 55-year-old rider who's still at the top of his game joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland. Calling in via Zoom from Louisville as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Smith talked...

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith joins this week's TDN Writers' Room days before his bid for the GI Kentucky Derby aboard Honor A.P.

With the racing and sales calendars turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, buyers at the upcoming Keeneland September Sale and Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase will have a unique opportunity. Typically, the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks--as well as the rest of the Triple Crown trail for that matter--are long over by the time the major yearling auctions take place. But with those marquee sophomore races pushed back to the first weekend in September, buyers could have a chance to purchase a sibling to this year's Derby or...

LOUISVILLE, KY--The likely top three wagering choices for the GI Kentucky Derby will break next to each other on Saturday, with heavy favorite Tiz the Law (Constitution) drawn in 17. GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby hero Honor A. P. (Honor Code) will be posted to his inside, and GI Haskell S. winner Authentic (Into Mischief) was assigned the far outside 18 hole during Tuesday morning's post draw. The 146th "Run for the Roses" lost a major contender earlier in the morning when streaking Art Collector (Bernardini) was ruled out due...

GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P. (Honor Code), expected to be no worse than third choice on the morning line for the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby, tightened the screws with a five-furlong work in 1:00.20 (see below) before the first race at Del Mar Saturday. Regular rider Mike Smith, wearing the colors of C R K Stable, was in the irons. Honor A.P. clicked off fractions of :12, :24, :36.20, and :47.60, galloping out three-quarters in 1:12.20 and seven furlongs in 1:25.40. The bay ridgling worked under...

C R K Stable's GI Kentucky Derby contender Honor A. P. (Honor Code) worked five furlongs prior to the first race at Del Mar Saturday, covering the distance in :59.40 (4/96) with jockey Mike Smith in the irons. The dark bay sophomore clipped off fractions of  :23.80, :36.00 and :47.40 on a fast Del Mar track with trainer John Shirreffs watching the move from the frontside. Del Mar clocker Toby Turrell, who timed the move, caught Honor A.P. going six furlongs in 1:11.40, seven-eighths in 1:23.80 and a mile in...

This past Saturday wasn't a great day to be a favorite in an open stakes race at the nation's premier race meets. Chalk horses went a collective one-for-seven at Saratoga and Del Mar, and the list of excuses included stutter-step starts, bumps leaving the gate, stretch-run roughhousing, getting disqualified, and being dueled into defeat in internal pace battles. Tight finishes in several stakes elevated the interest level, although the results in general did not lend clarity to the nationwide divisional races with the GI Kentucky Derby inside the five-week mark...

Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) returned to winning ways and improved his position on the GI Kentucky Derby trail with a gutsy score in Del Mar's Shared Belief S., which offered a total of 50 points towards the Run for the Roses. Breaking sharply from the inside post in this field scratched down to four, the 9-1 shot had all three rivals hot on his tail through a :23.89 opening quarter. GI Santa Anita Derby hero and heavy favorite Honor A.P. (Honor Code) was the first to break ranks, moving...

Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com takes on TDN's Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap Triple Crown prep races plus the big three races themselves. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets in the preps and $200 Win/Place bets in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Highest bankroll at the end wins. DeRosa - Haskell Result - Longshot Jesus' Team was fourth. Bankroll: $4960. Shared Belief S. - The Shared Belief could provide needed points to Cezanne and lagniappe to Honor A. P., so we'll go with the horse who...