McLaughlin's Training Career Nears the Wire

At a time when good news is scarce, there could have been a heart-tugging storybook tale in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

It was a 20-1 longshot, but there was the potential for Kiaran McLaughlin to win the important $750,000 stakes for 3-year-olds with his last horse as a trainer.

But fate had different plans.

Instead of sending out Shadwell Stable's Ajaaweed in the March 28 stakes at Gulfstream Park, McLaughlin had to scratch the homebred son of Curlin  on the eve of the 1 1/8-mile race.

"It was unfortunate," McLaughlin said. "Friday morning (March 27) he wasn't quite himself. He was real dull, he didn't eat. He didn't have a temperature but he wasn't quite right and the best thing was to scratch him. It was a tough decision but the right one. The horse has to come first."

While Ajaaweed will move into Todd Pletcher's barn, McLaughlin still has two horses in allowance races on Saturday's card. There's Enjoyitwhilewecan in the first race and Almashriq in the fifth race. He also has two horses on the March 29 card at Gulfstream, but they are both on the also-eligible list and may not run.

"It changes things without running Ajaaweed, but there are a lot of more important things going on in the world right now," McLaughlin said. "We'll run the two on Saturday and see what happens Sunday."

After that, 27 years as a trainer will come to an end next week when McLaughlin, one of the most popular and respected figures in the sport, begins a new career. After winning races such as the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1), Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1) and Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), he will become the jockey's agent for rider Luis Saez.

"It's bittersweet. It's sad to leave what I've always loved to do, and I've been training for some of the best clients in the world," said McLaughlin, who is replacing Richard DePass as the agent for Saez, who earned $18.2 million last year and won the $20 million Saudi Cup with Maximum Security last month. "It was a tough decision but Luis Saez is a great jockey and I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my career working with him and staying involved in the business and getting to see all my friends when I go to the track."

After training the likes of Horse of the Year Invasor, Frosted , Alpha, Jazil, Lahudood, Questing and It's Tricky, McLaughlin will start what is not a new job for him. He worked as the agent for jockey Chris Antley in 1992-93 before he took out his trainer's license. The career shift will provide a bookend to a career filled with a host of memories dating back to his early days as an assistant to trainers like D. Wayne Lukas. Going out on his own to compete in the sport's best races, McLaughlin developed a legion of friends through his warm personality.

"Anyone would love to train for these people and hopefully I can continue my relationship with Rick Nichols at Shadwell and Jimmy Bell at Godolphin," McLaughlin said. "The Maktoum family has been so supportive since I first worked for them in 1993."

McLaughlin's training career started more than 25 years ago when he worked in Dubai for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum of Shadwell Stable and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Godolphin operation. He returned to the U.S. on a fulltime basis in 2003 and eventually added other clients, but kept a close relationship with Shadwell and Godolphin.

"Kiaran is as astute of a horseman as there is out there. He's had a great relationship with the Maktoum family and we had a great run (with him). We've had some great Saturday afternoons together," said Bell, president of the Godolphin operation in the United States.

In particular, the bond between McLaughlin and Sheikh Hamdan has been both successful and filled with loyalty and appreciation on both sides.

"It's hard. Kiaran has been with us for so long and there has been a great loyalty between him and Sheikh Hamdan. Kiaran is such a great man. He's been such a huge part of our program," said Nichols, vice president and general manager of Shadwell Farm.

Sheikh Hamdan's respect for McLaughlin could be seen when Nichols viewed Shadwell's current crop of 2-year-olds to decide on trainers for them. In assessing a group that he believes might be Shadwell's best class of juveniles in recent memory, Nichols sent a recommendation to Sheikh Hamdan with McLaughlin getting an ample share of top prospects. Sheikh Hamdan reviewed the list and then revised it, giving all top of the top 10 2-year-olds to McLaughlin.

"That's the kind of loyalty he has for Kiaran. I can't explain how great a man Sheikh Hamdan is," Nichols said.

In a far more important gesture of Sheikh Hamdan's concern for his trainer, he played an important role in having McLaughlin treated at the Mayo Clinic some 21 years after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that attacks the central nervous system. 

"Sheikh Hamdan is a fatherly figure to me," McLaughlin said. "He's been fabulous to me. That's the tough part, leaving him."

Why he's leaving is surely a somber reason, especially for New York horsemen. While McLaughlin's horses have earned $120,463,379 through March 26 in his training career—a figure than ranks 17th on the all-time list —and $5,637,168 in 2019 alone, according to Equibase, the financial demands of his profession and governmental regulations have dragged McLaughlin's operation into the red. Not helping matters was a 2019 New York State Labor Board fine of $304,646.82 for wages due, damages, and penalties for violating minimum wage requirements because the state does not recognize horse racing as an agriculture business even though the care of animals is involved.

"The reality is that it's so difficult for all of us trainers and this situation now with tracks closing due to the virus will complicate it more," McLaughlin said. "The expense of trying to do things properly means when you get started at the beginning of a year I'm $50,000 or $100,000 in the hole. It's costly. It's great when everything is going great. It's fun when you're winning races. But when you stop and think about how much money it costs, I felt so often that I'm working for the help."

There are surely better times to start a new career than now, with the world battling a frightening pandemic, yet McLaughlin understands better than most the specter of a horrible illness and is mindful of how serious the situation has become.

"I've had MS for about 20 years but It's not a death sentence and I deal with it. I'm pretty lucky that I was able to continue working. This is so much different now. This is a scary time. Very scary. What's happening to everybody is very scary. We have to try and stay safe and healthy and keep going. None of us have lived through times like this and I hope we never will again," he said.

Since he has a preexisting condition, McLaughlin has been trying to isolate himself as much as possible. He has been watching works from afar in a golf cart, but once next week arrives his workday will change. Instead of training horses, he'll be watching the sport in a different way, working with horsemen to secure rides for his jockey and hoping he can remain as affable as ever in an old but new job that can be taxing on relationships.

"I'm real excited about going to work for Luis Saez and staying involved in the sport," McLaughlin said. "I just hope I don't lose any friends when I tell them Luis can't ride for (all of) them."