Mohaymen Sublime in the Holy Bull

The Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, which I had called the first big prep for the 2016 Kentucky Derby, turned out to be little more than a one-horse race. Today in South Florida, Mohaymen made it so, as he officially began his march to Kentucky with a sublime performance in his three-year-old debut, cruising to a simple 3 1/2-length victory in the $350,000 affair.

Hopes have always been very high for the $2.2 million yearling purchase, and to this point, he is exceeding the large expectations. Owned by Shadwell Stable and trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Mohaymen has pushed his name to the forefront of all Kentucky Derby contenders with four consecutive victories to begin his career. In each, a maiden race in September at Belmont, the Grade 2 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct, the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, also at Aqueduct, and now today’s Holy Bull, Mohaymen has been a commanding presence. The grand looking son of Tapit has won all with style and grace, and with something left in the engine. The Holy Bull was his best performance yet, as a Grade 1 winner looked him in the eye, and simply had no answer.

That Grade 1 winner, being Greenpointcrusader, and the battle between the two was joined on the far turn. They had jockeyed for position early on, just behind the overmatched early leader, but it was the two classy sophomores who quickly accelerated into a joint lead. Eyeball-to-eyeball, the 3-10 favorite, and the 7-2 second choice, asked each other the ultimate question for thoroughbred race horses, and it was the Champagne hero that blinked. 

Near as quick as the duel was set down, Mohaymen picked it up, and his talented young rival could not keep up. The stretch run was as easy as a 3 1/2-length victory could be. His rider Junior Alvarado sat chilly, before giving just a bit of encouragement, as he let the horse pull away on his own desire. By the eighth pole, they had put away Greenpointcrusader, and Mohaymen was elegantly striding out to the Gulfstream Park wire. From there, Alvarado became quiet again, and the handsome gray colt did the rest. 

Final time for the 8 ½ furlongs over the fast main track was a sharp 1:42.07, despite the lack of early pace which yielded fractions of :24.64, :49.06, and 1:12.52. As the heavy favorite, Mohaymen returned $2.60 for the win, and the exacta over the second choice was only worth $5.60. Perfect in four starts, the Kentucky bred raised his lifetime earnings to $559,830, while picking up his third Grade 2 victory. He also earned ten Kentucky Derby qualifying points for the win.  

Behind him, longshot Fellowship out finished the highly regarded Conquest Big E for a non-threatening third, but this edition of the Holy Bull was all about Mohaymen. 

The winner’s happy trainer was quick to praise his budding star. “He took my breath away,” proudly stated McLaughlin. “Today was pretty special. It looked like on paper that he might break and be on the lead because there wasn’t much pace. When that didn’t happen, I was a little nervous into the first turn and around the turn. But all went great. He’s just a special horse. It makes it easy for us to train and to ride. He’s a real special colt and does everything right, and I was real glad to see that he did everything right. I was a little nervous. I had the pony come into the paddock but stay away from him just in case we needed him. It’s just a real pleasure to have such a star in the barn for Sheikh Hamdan and Shadwell. I’ve trained for them for 23 years, and I trained the mother, so it’s pretty special.” 

As for the winning rider, Alvarado, who came back to the winner’s circle grinning ear-to-ear, was most impressed with the horsepower offered by his mount. “He didn’t break as well as I wanted him to, but I knew it wasn’t going to be a problem,” stated Alvarado. “Mentally, he’s so mature. He does whatever I want. I just waited and waited to see what Johnny (Velazquez aboard Greenpointcrusader) was going to do. He left me a little room, but sometimes that can be a little trap. I just waited and waited and then it got to a point where he didn’t come inside and the horse in front was backing up, so I said, ‘I’ve got the best horse. It’s time to making my own move. After that it was pretty much over. I could have gone around (again) easily with him. I still had plenty of horse. You can feel the acceleration he has, and it’s not me asking him.” 

After the race, McLaughlin indicated that it likely will be a South Florida trail to Louisville for his young star. The unbeaten Mohaymen should use the Fountain of Youth on February 27, and then the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 2, as his next two, and his last two, preps before entering the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. As it stands today, a full 14 weeks from the Derby, Mohaymen is looking every bit the part of a Kentucky Derby favorite.