AQUEDUCT McLaughlin feeling optimistic about Haikal’s progress

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Same time, next year.

In 2018, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin won the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct with Enticed. The horse would finish second in the Wood Memorial, but end up 14th in the Kentucky Derby and has not run since.

On Saturday, McLaughlin again won the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct with Haikal. He hopes the similarities end there.

With his victory in the Gotham, Haikal earned 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, more than enough to secure a spot in the starting gate for the $3 million race on May 4 at Churchill Downs.

But Haikal has more to do to prove he can be a viable candidate in the Derby, run at 1 1/4 miles around two turns. Haikal will get the chance to run two turns and 1 1/8 miles for the first time in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial here April 6, McLaughlin said Sunday.

McLaughlin said Haikal came out of his one-length victory over Mind Control in the Gotham – in which he rallied from last with the benefit of a hot early pace – in good shape. He earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance, his third consecutive victory. Haikal’s two previous wins came at six and seven furlongs, also at Aqueduct.

A year ago, McLaughlin had reason to believe Enticed could be successful in the Derby. First, he was a product of Grade 1 route stakes winners Medaglia d’Oro and It’s Tricky. Second, at age 2, Enticed had won the Kentucky Jockey Club going two turns at Churchill Downs.

Haikal is by Daaher, a Grade 1 and Grade 2 winner at a mile who was an allowance winner at nine furlongs. Haikal is a half-brother to Takaful, who was a Grade 1-winning sprinter.

“He’s got a great mind, nothing really upsets him, his conformation, and his style of running,” McLaughlin said when asked his reasons for optimism that Haikal can stretch out. “Obviously, going two turns we’d be a little closer; they won’t be going 44-andchange” for a half-mile.

McLaughlin credited his team, led by assistant Joe Lee, for doing “a great job with this horse.”

The Gotham winner has not won the Kentucky Derby since Secretariat in 1973. Over the last 12 years, 10 Gotham winners have run in the Derby, with Samraat’s fifth-place finish in 2014 the best result.

Gotham runner-up Mind Control is in the same category as Haikal. He won the Grade 1 Hopeful last summer and the Jerome this winter at one turn and was a solid second in the Gotham, fending off Instagrand and Much Better.

Like Haikal, Mind Control has spent all winter in New York and the Wood Memorial is the next logical race for him. Under conditions announced earlier this year by the New York Racing Association, the Wood Memorial purse increases to $1 million should a Grade 1 winner such as Mind Control start in the race.

Mind Control was farther off the early pace in the Gotham than he had been in his previous good races. That was encouraging to trainer Gregg Sacco, who said the horse did have a lot of dirt in his eyes coming out of the race but otherwise was in good shape.

“We learned a lot from him yesterday,” Sacco said Sunday morning. “He doesn’t need the lead. He ran a professional race. [Haikal] was the best horse yesterday, the way it did set up.

Sacco said he is looking forward to giving Mind Control another start around two turns. In his only other two-turn race, Mind Control had a troubled trip when seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“He has the tactical speed to go to the front if it’s a paceless race, or sit behind the early leaders and make his run,” Sacco said. “He has a good, honest run. He’s genuine in his efforts, he’s not just a pace factor.”

Instagrand, making his first start since last August when he won the Best Pal at Del Mar by 10 1/4 lengths, ran credibly in the Gotham to be third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths.

Speaking Sunday morning by phone from California, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said he thought Instagrand ran “a great race considering how long he’d been off. He showed he could rate a little bit and looked good doing it, I thought.”

Hollendorfer said Instagrand “deserves to be considered on the Derby trail.” A decision on where he may run next won’t be decided until after the horse gets back to Southern California and resumes training.

Instagrand is scheduled to return to California on Tuesday.

DEBRA A. ROMA Haikal earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for his Gotham win and is scheduled to go next in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial.