Strong Mandate, Honor Code seek further glory in Champagne

"The first one, we lead them over there, let them break, let them go around

-- even looking at him, you can see he's not a 5 1/2-furlong horse," Lukas said.

"When he broke his maiden, we put him in a situation that was more adaptable to

him, and he responded. We had blinkers on him, which we knew we were going to

do, and made our usual adjustments."

Returning 16 days later, on Labor Day, for the seven-furlong Hopeful, Strong

Mandate again turned in a tour de force effort. Clearly relishing the muddy

conditions, Strong Mandate seized control at the top of the stretch and coasted

home by 9 3/4 lengths.

"You don't see big horses like this accelerate like he did in the Hopeful,

and so easily," Lukas said. "He's had a great month since the Hopeful."

Todd Pletcher, a future Hall of Famer who has saddled four Champagne winners

including champions Uncle Mo and Shanghai Bobby, will try to win a fifth with

Havana, a gray son of Dunkirk who led throughout in winning at first asking by 2

3/4 lengths at Saratoga on August 23. The 2-5 favorite against seven rivals,

Dunkirk blitzed 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02 3/5 for his Coolmore connections.

"In his training I've always felt like he finishes his works well and he

gallops out strongly," said Pletcher of Havana. "He's not one these horses who

seems desperate for the wire in any of his works or in his race, so there's only

one way to find out for sure, and we like what we've seen."

Hoping to spring an upset are Debut Ceiling, who's won three stakes including

the Bashford Manor at Churchill Downs; Long On Value, a two-time stakes winner

who met defeat for the first time when sixth in the Hopeful; Casiguapo, 30-1

runner-up in the Hopeful; and Ride On Curlin, an Ellis Park graduate who

finished fourth in the Iroquois at Churchill in his stakes debut.

Admiral Kitten could benefit from the presence of a "rabbit," entrymate Get

in Line, when he seeks his second consecutive Grade 1 score in the $500,000

Jamaica

Handicap, a nine-furlong grass test for three-year-olds. However, Admiral

Kitten won't have as much ground to work with here after needing most of the 1

1/4 miles in the August 17 Secretariat to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

In addition to the overmatched Get in Line, another expected to show early

foot are Five Iron, who was left untouched en route to victories in the Saranac,

Toronto Cup, and Victoria Park in his past three starts.

Other notables in an outstanding field are Virginia Derby winner War Dancer,

sixth in the Travers last out; Grade 2 winner Balance the Books, neck winner of

the $100,000 Stroll last time; Transylvania winner Jack Milton, who finished

third in the Virginia Derby and Secretariat in his last two; Secretariat

runner-up Stormy Len, a solid third against older rivals in the Northern Dancer

Turf at Woodbine most recently; multiple Grade 3 winner Notacatbutallama,

runner-up in the Saranac and Up With the Birds, a four-time stakes winner

including the Breeders' Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

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