Former favorite Mohaymen tries to atone for bad prep race
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Things were hopping at Barn 41 on the Churchill Downs backstretch Tuesday
Under a cold, pale, gray sky, TV cameras were set up on tripods and tape recorders were at the ready. Any move or sound byte from Doug O’Neill, the trainer of Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist, would be gobbled up by the evergrowing throng of media covering the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby.
Across the road, at Barn 42, there was no such commotion.
That’s where Mohaymen, who once upon a time was the colt everyone was worrying about in the Run for the Roses, is staying.
But when you lose a race — and you lose it badly — the hype disappears.
“I get it. If we had won, people would .be lined up at our barn instead of (Nyquist trainer) Doug O’Neill’s,” said Kiaran McLaughlin, Mohaymen’s trainer. “We still love our horse, and we think he has a big chance to win.”
The race Mohaymen lost was a big one, and it came on the biggest stage of the Derby prep season. Mohaymen, unbeaten in his first five starts, was the 4-5 favorite in the Florida Derby on April 2. It was billed as the best of the East against the best of the West. And Mohaymen had no answers for Nyquist, who won the race by 3¼ lengths.
Mohaymen checked in fourth, beaten 8¼ lengths.
Nyquist will be the favorite when the Derby field is drawn Wednesday. Mohaymen will be an afterthought.
McLaughlin isn’t going to let one race destroy all the confidence he has in the colt, who was a $2.2 million purchase by Shadwell Stable, which is owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, deputy ruler of Dubai.
The translation of Mohaymen’s name? Dominant. Most of the time, he has been.
“(Mohaymen) has had a bad 1:49 his whole life,” McLaughlin said, referring to the winning time in the Florida Derby. “That’s it. He has never missed a day of training. He is a great mover. And he will run in the afternoon.”
In the Florida Derby, Mohaymen had a wide trip. McLaughlin said he had to run 54 feet farther than Nyquist. The colt also did not care for the wet track. Even though it was listed as “good,” McLaughlin said there was standing water on the Gulfstream Park oval. The temperature was a Florida summer-like 88 degrees. And to get to the race, Mohaymen had to make an hour-long van ride from the Palm Meadows Training Center just outside of Boynton Beach.
McLaughlin acknowledged that Nyquist had to overcome the same track and weather conditions. And he had to ship from California.
But, for the past month, McLaughlin has had a hard time accepting that Nyquist is eight lengths better than his horse.
“I was disappointed and lost a little confidence right after the race,” McLaughlin said. ”But we have a happy, healthy, sound horse. I have a lot of confidence. I feel like we are going to run a big race.”
O’Neill, who is busy enough with Nyquist, still sneaked a peak at Mohaymen, who galloped on the Churchill track with the other Derby horses at 8:30 Tuesday morning. He isn’t discounting his April rival.
“He looks good,” O’Neill said. ”He had really good energy. All these horses … they’re not machines. Mohaymen did not run his best race (in the Florida Derby), and I definitely expect him to run back to his previous races. That would make him really tough to beat.”
Mohaymen, who has been ridden by New Yorkbased Junior Alvarado in all six of his starts, won four straight Grade II races before the Florida Derby loss. McLaughlin said he will try to get a stalking position in the Derby. And if he is the horse McLaughlin thinks he is, he will make up for that one bad day.
When asked if he was confident Mohaymen would rebound, McLaughlin had a one word answer: “yes.” When asked if he would bet on that, he said that same word.