by TERESA GENARO
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — And all of a sudden, it’s an embarrassment of Honors.
W.S. Farish’s homebred Highest Honors added his name to the list of possible starters for the Travers (G1) on August 24 with a decisive, come-from-behind win in the $100,000 Curlin at Saratoga on Friday.
Running last in the field of eight, Highest Honors was in no hurry, and neither was even-money favorite Looking at Bikinis, who set sedate fractions of :24.23 and :49.36 early in the nine-furlong race over a muddy track.
Heading in the far turn, jockey Jose Ortiz gave the gray/roan colt his cue, getting an immediate response as Highest Honors turned on the jets to draw even with the leaders, running widest in the four-path.
Putting away everyone except Endorsed, coming off a win and making his second start off an eight-month layoff, the mud-covered Highest Honors ran neck-and-neck with his rival before pulling off to win by 1 1/2 lengths. The winner is trained by Chad Brown.
“Chad’s been saying since the Classics that this was his Travers horse,” said Farish’s son Bill in the winner’s circle.
The last time Highest Honors was in Saratoga was in August of 2017, when he was an RNA at the Fasig-Tipton yearling sale for $750,000. A big, late-developing colt, he was unraced at two, making his first start at Keeneland in April over a muddy track, finishing second. He won next out at Belmont Park.
“This is a great race for horses like him that are developing late,” said Farish. “This was a very good field, a very tough field.”
Highest Honors is out of the Illinois-bred Tap Your Feet, by Dixieland Band, and is a half-brother to the multiple Grade 1 winning turf filly Diamondrella, who earned $825,000. His half-sister Bonnie Blue Flag was twice Grade 1-placed and earned $260,000.
Should training go according to plan, Farish’s silks will be represented by both Highest Honors and Code of Honor in the Travers. Another Farish homebred, Code of Honor is trained by Shug McGaughey and ran second in the Kentucky Derby (G1), then won the Dwyer (G3) at Belmont Park in early July.
His sire Tapit’s coloring may be reflected in Highest Honors’ coat, but not, said Farish gratefully, in his psyche.
“I loved the cross with Dixieland Band,” he said of the mating. “Tapit was on top of the world, and this is one of the rare Tapits that has a great mind.”
Hesitant to commit either horse to the Travers at this point, Farish nonetheless looked pleased at the possibility of his family’s horses testing each other, and proud that they might have the opportunity to do.
“The Travers,” he said, “is going to be the three-year-old race of the year.”
