Mohaymen could give McLaughlin another shot at Derby

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For the third straight year, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin can leave New York in the fall following the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, head to south Florida for the winter, and dream about Kentucky in the spring.

Mohaymen fueled those Kentucky Derby dreams with a solid 1 1/2-length victory Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Remsen Stakes, his third win from as many starts. In years past, McLaughlin had close second-place finishes in the Remsen with Cairo Prince in 2013 and Frosted last year. Cairo Prince got hurt a month before the Kentucky Derby. Frosted finished fourth behind American Pharoah.

Mohaymen, a $2.2 million yearling purchase by Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Stable, gives McLaughlin confidence he has a horse that has the stamina to get the 1 1/4 miles of the Kentucky Derby.

“He wouldn’t blow out a match after the race yesterday,” McLaughlin said Sunday morning. “When you buy horses, breed horses, you don’t get to see all the mechanics of them with their breathing and how they’re doing and how he moves and why it happens. Invasor was like that. Henny Hughes was like that. Very few horses are like that, but this horse yesterday, when he came into the winner’s circle, he stood there like, ‘What’s next?’ ”

Next was a plane Sunday to south Florida, where Mohaymen will be based at the Palm Meadows training center. McLaughlin’s initial thought is to point for the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 30. McLaughlin said Mohaymen would either have two or three preps before the Kentucky Derby with the last one possibly coming in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9. McLaughlin won this year’s Wood with Frosted.

Mohaymen was much better behaved Saturday than he was prior to the Nashua, a race he won by 1 1/4 lengths after acting up in the paddock and around the gate. McLaughlin believes that was a one-time thing but noted he schooled Mohaymen three or four times at the gate in between races. He also had a pony with Mohyamen in the paddock.

Mohaymen ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.69 and earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

Flexibility, who raced within a length of the lead throughout, finished second to Mohaymen for the second straight race. He finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Gift Box, who seemed to lack the late kick that he showed in winning his maiden race seven weeks ago. Both Flexibility and Gift Box are trained by Chad Brown.

Brown said Sunday he felt the seven weeks between races and the slow early pace may have compromised Gift Box.

“Make no mistake about it, the winner was impressive,” said Brown. “Maybe the seven weeks caught up with [Gift Box] a little bit. I’m going to send him down to Florida and come up with a plan for him.”

Brown said he would likely keep Flexibility, a New York-bred, in New York and point him to the Grade 3 Jerome Stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track Jan. 2.

Brown won three races on Saturday’s card, topped by the Grade 3, $300,000 Demoiselle Stakes with Lewis Bay. She did run a slow final time of 1:53.41 for 1 1/8 miles and only earned a Beyer of 70.

“She did what she was supposed to do,” said Brown. “She got around two turns. She was a little green late in the race. I think she’s a horse that’s still improving and learning, so we’re excited about her. She’s going to fly to Florida, and we’ll give her a little bit of a breather and start to point her to the [Kentucky] Oaks and see if she’s good enough to get to that point.”

Forever Unbridled, who finished 11th in this year’s Kentucky Oaks, won her first stakes race by outfinishing Carrumba by a head in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

It was only Forever Unbridled’s second start since the Oaks, her other being a troubled fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland. Stewart said Forever Unbridled would winter at Fair Grounds, but he wasn’t planning on getting her started until spring.

“I want her to win a Grade 1 in New York,” said Stewart. “We just got to be patient with her.”

Forever Unbridled is a full sister to Unbridled Forever, who won the Grade 1 Ballerina for Stewart and owner Charles Fipke during the summer at Saratoga.