Suburban Stakes

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....

Godolphin homebred Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), off since winning the G1 Dubai World Cup in March, makes his stateside return in the GII Suburban S. at Belmont Park Saturday. The Suburban, a 'Win and You're In' race for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, will feature a rematch between the handsome chestnut and Happy Saver (Super Saver), who bested him by 3/4 lengths in last year's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. In addition to his runner-up effort in the Gold Cup last October, Mystic Guide's 3-year-old campaign also included a win in...