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The talented four-time graded stakes winner Mohaymen, who was the favorite for the May 7th Kentucky Derby (gr. I) at Churchill Downs before finishing fourth as the favorite in the Florida Derby (gr. I) earlier this month, turned in his first workout at Churchill on April 20th as he prepares for a rematch with his Florida Derby conquerors in the Kentucky Derby.
Mohaymen went a half-mile in a fast :46.80 seconds, posting fast fractions of :12 flat, :23.60, and :35.20 before continuing past the wire through five furlongs in :59.60 and six furlongs in an impressive 1:12.80.
“That was a ‘Wow’ breeze,” Neal McLaughlin, assistant to and brother of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, was quoted as saying in a Churchill Downs press release. “You don’t know what you’re going to get coming here. It’s a bit of a different surface, some of them like it, some of them don’t and that’s why we are here early and give him a couple of breezes here.
“We were looking for a :48, up in 1:01 and he went :46.8 and up in :59.6, galloped out, came back, took one sip of water and (there was) not any sweat on him.”
Kiaran McLaughlin was similarly pleased with Mohaymen’s workout. “It was a great work,” the trainer said. “I kind of predicted that the track was deeper at Palm meadows and this is a little bit lighter and he was going to work pretty fast.
“He hasn’t worked since he ran and he was feeling really good, so we thought he was going to work well. He’ll have one more work.”
Regarding Mohaymen’s disappointing performance in the Florida Derby, McLaughlin said “We are going to draw a line through that race. He was very wide and the track was very wet, not that he wouldn’t handle it wet here, but at least it’s an excuse for us trainers. He ran 54 feet further than the winner and that’s a matter of fact quite a bit of feet further and a lot of lengths difference.”
Video courtesy of Churchill Downs
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