Mohaymen Romps in Holy Bull Stakes

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has sent out his fair share of top-level runners over the years, but there was something about the Jan. 30 performance of Shadwell Stables' Mohaymen that impressed even a seasoned veteran.

"He took my breath away," McLaughlin said after the Tapit   colt made made easy work of five rivals to draw clear in the $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes (gr. II) Jan. 30 at Gulfstream Park.  "Today was pretty special."

Acing his season debut, Mohaymen pushed his record to a perfect 4-for-4 while geared down by jockey Junior Alvarado to a 3 1/2-length win. The 1 1/16-mile distance was no issue for the striking gray, who dialed back from the 1 1/8-miles he last ran when winning the Remsen Stakes (gr. II) after taking the one-mile Nashua (gr. II), both in New York in November.

LEWYN: Unbeaten Mohaymen Easily Takes Remsen 

BALAN: Mohaymen Shines in Nashua Stakes

Third behind Perfect Saint's easy :24.64 opening quarter while Greenpointcrusader pressed the pace outside, Alvarado sensed the slow tempo and soon asked for another gear from 1-5 favorite Mohaymen, who split the front two and took over while running a :49.06 half.

"It looked like on paper that he might break and be on the lead because there wasn't much pace," McLaughlin said. "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."

While Perfect Saint backed up severely and Greenpointcrusader dug in to match a few strides, Mohaymen struck the final turn through six furlongs in 1:12.52 and easily drew off for the score. Final time was 1:42.07 on a fast track. 

"He didn't break as well as I wanted him to, but I knew it wasn't going to be a problem," Alvarado said. "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 be 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."

Mohaymen collected 10 points on the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), as the qualifying race awarded points on a 10-4-2-1 basis to the top four finishers. The additional points rank him second with 20 total behind 2015 champion 2-year-old colt Nyquist (30).

"(He'll probably go next in the Feb. 27) Fountain of Youth (gr. II)," McLaughlin said. " We just think more experience is fine, especially the way he's doing it. I don't think he needs to skip races. I think he did it pretty much in hand today, so it wasn't going to be a hard effort ... This looked like a pretty easy race. I will talk to Rick Nichols and he will speak to Sheikh Hamdan but he will probably go to the Fountain of Youth."

The winner paid $2.60, $2.10, and $2.10 while favored at 1-5 in the field of six. Greenpointcrusader held second, worth $2.60 and $2.20, while Fellowship closed to get third ($3.80). Conquest Big E, Frontier Ranger, and Perfect Saint completed the order of finish.

Mohaymen was bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms out of the grade II-winning Dixie Union mare Justwhistledixie and was the $2.2 million co-sale topper at the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale. He pushed his earnings to $559,830 when collecting the Holy Bull win.

"He's a real special colt and does everything right," McLaughlin said. "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."