LEXINGTON, Ky. – Two-time Grade 1 winner Code of Honor tops a field of nine 3-year-olds and older runners entered Wednesday for the 64th running of the $200,000 Hagyard Fayette (G2) on Saturday, the final day of the 17-day Fall Meet. The Hagyard Fayette is the featured event of the 10-race card, which includes the $150,000 Bryan Station and $150,000 Bowman Mill.
The Hagyard Fayette, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles over the main track, will go as the ninth race with a 5:16 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1 p.m.
The stakes will mark the final start of Code of Honor’s career. Owned and bred by W.S. Farish, Code of Honor at 3 won the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) via disqualification and captured the Travers (G1). Winner of a total of six graded stakes in his career, he was second in the 2019 Kentucky Derby (G1).
Trained by Shug McGaughey, the 5-year-old by Noble Mission (GB) comes into the Hagyard Fayette off a fourth-place finish in the Woodward (G1) at Belmont on Oct. 2. Code of Honor worked Monday at Keeneland, covering 4 furlongs in :49.60 over a fast track.
Tyler Gaffalione, the Fall Meet’s leading rider, will have the mount Saturday on Code of Honor and break from post seven.
Also figuring to attract attention in the race are Night Ops, Sleepy Eyes Todd and the 3-year-old King Fury.
Steve Landers Racing’s Night Ops, second in the Ben Ali (G3) here this spring, has posted a 7-0-4-2 mark in 2021 and exits a fourth-place finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) on Sept. 4 in his most recent start. Trained by Brad Cox, Night Ops will be ridden by Florent Geroux and break from post four.
Thumbs Up Racing’s Sleepy Eyes Todd, who went from last in a 12-horse field to win the Lafayette here last fall on the Breeders’ Cup undercard, was second to Art Collector in the Charles Town Classic (G2) in his most recent start.
An earner of more than $2 million, Sleepy Eyes Todd finished fifth in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) and 10th in the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) before returning to the U.S. in April. Trained by Miguel Silva, Sleepy Eyes Todd will break from post position one and be ridden by Ry Eikleberry.
Fern Creek Stables and Three Chimneys Farm’s King Fury enters Saturday’s race off a 13-length victory in the Bourbon Trail on Sept. 25 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Kenny McPeek, King Fury won the Lexington (G3) here this spring. King Fury will break from post six and be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.
A total of 10 3-year-olds have won the Hagyard Fayette with the most recent being Blame in 2009.
The field for the Hagyard Fayette, with riders and weights from the inside, is:
1. Sleepy Eyes Todd (Ry Eikleberry, 121 pounds)
2. Manhattan Up (Chris Landeros, 121)
3. Militarist (Martin Garcia, 121)
4. Night Ops (Florent Geroux, 121)
5. Independence Hall (Javier Castellano, 121)
6. King Fury (Brian Hernandez Jr., 120)
7. Code of Honor (Tyler Gaffalione, 121)
8. Fort Peck (David Cohen, 121)
9. Major Fed (Ricardo Santana Jr., 121)
For info on the Best Breeders’ Cup Seminar click HERE.
Photo: Code Of Honor with Paco Lopez riding won the $250,000 Grade III Philip H. Iselin at Monmouth Park on Saturday August 21, 2021. (Ryan Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
Keeneland Press Release
