Almost down to the felt, McLaughlin roars back with Frosted

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – As a poker player, Kiaran McLaughlin appreciates the feeling of having a strong hand. As a horse trainer – with the goal of winning a Kentucky Derby – McLaughlin knows it’s better to have more than one ace in the hole. A pair is better, three of kind even more so, and so on.

McLaughlin, the horse trainer, entered 2015 with a full house of Derby prospects. But a flop here, a bad turn there, and well, McLaughlin was close to having to fold.

By his own words, McLaughlin went “all in” with Frosted for the April 4 Wood Memorial, a race he won by two lengths. Now, on Saturday at Churchill Downs, McLaughlin will participate in the World Series of horse racing, the Kentucky Derby.

“We had five very strong candidates, we thought,” McLaughlin said during a recent morning at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida where he and his horses have spent the winter and early spring. “But you know it’s tough to get everyone to the starting gate.

“The one thing is we wanted the horse to take us there. We’re not forcing them to get there.”

Last year, McLaughlin was hoping to get there with Cairo Prince, who was derailed two weeks before the Derby due to an ankle injury. In addition to believing Cairo Prince was a legitimate contender, McLaughlin had convinced one of his primary clients, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, to purchase half-interest in the colt from existing clients.

“We thought we had our best chance of winning it,” McLaughlin said. “That’s what was so hard about it. And bringing in Godolphin to take half of him was hard, too.”

Coming into this year, McLaughlin felt, in alphabetical order, Classy Class, Frosted, Imperia, Mawthooq, and Ocean Knight all had chances to get to the Derby.

Mawthooq, a son of Distorted Humor owned by Shadwell Stable, won a maiden race last fall at Aqueduct by 10 1/2 lengths. He was sidelined when a tendon flared up in early February and is now on the farm.

On Jan. 31, Ocean Knight, a son of Curlin owned by Stonestreet Stable, won the Sam F. Davis at Tampa. On March 7, Ocean Knight finished seventh, beaten 29 lengths, in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. He will likely run sometime in May at Belmont.

Imperia, a son of Medaglia d’Oro owned by Godolphin, finished second, beaten a neck by El Kabeir, in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club on dirt last fall at Churchill Downs. In his 3-year-old debut, Imperia finished fifth in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds. He was entered and scratched from the Spiral Stakes at Turfway in March and has since undergone surgery to remove a chip from an ankle.

Classy Class, a son of Discreetly Mine owned by Cheyenne Stables, was a debut winner at Belmont last fall. He could do no better than third in four subsequent graded stakes tries and will likely be shortened in distance.

Frosted, a son of Tapit owned by Godolphin, finished second in last fall’s Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct and began the year with a decent second to Upstart in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream.

In the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, Frosted, equipped with blinkers for the first time, was two lengths in front at the quarter pole with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. sitting like a statue. By the eighth pole, Frosted was third and faded from there, finishing fourth.

McLaughlin was baffled. He went into full trainer mode. Not knowing for sure if Frosted might have displaced his soft palate – thus inhibiting his breathing – McLaughlin had a minor throat procedure performed on the colt. He shook up the colt’s training, one morning putting Frosted behind two horses and having jockey Joel Rosario whip Frosted as he passed them to make sure Frosted wasn’t pulling himself up when he got in front of horses.

Rosario was retained to replace Ortiz, the colt’s regular rider, not because of anything Ortiz did wrong, but because McLaughlin was changing everything. McLaughlin even cut back the size of the blinkers he had used on Frosted in the Fountain of Youth.

Everything worked as Frosted, purposely kept wide and off the pace by Rosario in the Wood, rallied by longshot Tencendur in the stretch. Rosario never used his stick.

“That his style has changed from being on the lead in the Fountain of Youth to being last in the Wood is nice because there’s plenty of pace,” McLaughlin said of the Kentucky Derby. “We like his style of running. Joel loves him and had a lot of confidence in him in the Wood and hopefully he runs similar.”

Frosted will be the sixth horse McLaughlin, a 54-year-old native of Lexington who attended the University of Kentucky for one year, has run in the Kentucky Derby. Ten years ago, McLaughlin came close to winning it when 71-1 shot Closing Argument was beaten a half-length by 50-1 shot Giacomo.

“I don’t look backwards much, I’m always a look-forward type of person,” said McLaughlin, who has taken the same approach in his battle with Multiple Sclerosis, which he was diagnosed with in 1998. “It was fun, almost. It was a great experience and hopefully we learn from each one of them; 71-1 and he was almost there. He surprised us all. We didn’t think he could win.

“Now, Frosted might have hit the toughest Derby in a lot of years, you don’t know,” McLaughlin added. “There’s 10 of them probably that can win it and 10 that would surprise you if they won. But at least we’re in the 10 that has every reason to win.”