Photo by NYRA/Coglianese Photos
Early Kentucky Derby favorite Mohaymen, coming off of an impressive win in the Holy Bull Stakes (gr. II), completed his preparations for the February 27th Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II) when he breezed four furlongs in an easy :49.60 on February 19th at Gulfstream Park.
The workout was Mohaymen’s second since the Holy Bull, and followed a four-furlong breeze in a bullet :47.75 on February 12th.
“We know he’s fast, but we don’t need 47’s every week,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin was quoted as saying on the Gulfstream Park website. “He went great. He started out a little slow, going 13 and 3 the first eighth of a mile and finished [three furlongs] in 35 and 4 and kept going after it.
“We don’t need to go fast every week. He looked great doing it and galloped out well, [five furlongs] in 1:01 and 3. All is well. We’re ready for next week.”
According to Gulfstream Park, other horses expected to run in the Fountain of Youth include the unbeaten sprinter Awesome Banner; Holy Bull Stakes third-place finisher Fellowship; Mucho Macho Man Stakes winner Awesome Speed; and the promising allowance winners Cherry Wine and Zulu.
“The thing I worry about is post position. If there happen to be nine entered and we draw the nine hole it’s not ideal,” McLaughlin said. “But there’s some serious speed in the race so we should be able to sit back and sort through it and figure it out. We’ll know better at entry time.”
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