Sheikh Hamdan’s Mohaymen and Lani lead UAE connections into Kentucky Derby

Geoffrey Riddle examines the chances of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid's Mohaymen and UAE Derby winner Lani ahead of Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

Mohaymen shown in the Fountain of Youth Stakes in Florida in February. Liz Lamont / Eclipse Sportswire / Getty Images

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Mohaymen and UAE Derby winner Lani will form part of a phalanx of grey runners in the 142nd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in the early hours of Sunday morning UAE time.

For only the third time in Kentucky Derby history will there be five grey horses in the 2,000-metre event, and there have been only eight grey winners going back to 1930 with Giocomo the last to score 11 years ago.

Lani and Mohaymen will be joined by fellow grey colts Creator, Destin and Cherry Wine in the 20-runner field, headed by strong favourite Nyquist who beat Mohaymen hollow in the Florida Derby a month ago.

Since then Mohaymen has been training well at Churchill Downs, leading trainer Kiaran McLaughlin to file the colt’s only defeat in six starts in the unexplainable folder.

Last year McLaughlin and his team went back to the drawing board with Frosted, their main Kentucky Derby hope, who had flopped in the Fountain Of Youth Stakes. McLaughlin gave the subsequent Dubai World Cup fifth a breathing operation. He switched riders from Irad Ortiz to Joel Rosario. He changed race targets, too, and it all proved a success when the Godolphin colt won the Grade 1 Wood Memorial next time out.

With Mohaymen, however, he has resisted the urge to twist, preferring to stick and continue with the colt’s previous regime.

“He’s had two bad minutes in his whole life,” McLaughlin said by teleconference.

“We’re going to draw a line through the effort. Even though he didn’t run terribly, the Florida Derby was disappointing for us who didn’t think he could lose.

“He works great all the time. He trains fabulous. Everybody is getting to see what I see every day.”

Mohaymen was drawn one step outside his old rival Nyquist at the post position draw on Wednesday night in 14. Mohaymen technically only turned three on Monday, and with the fact that he was pushed wide on a rain-affected dirt surface when he was fourth to Nyquist at Gulfstream Park McLaughlin is at least hopeful.

“I just think that he can rebound and we can rebound and I think we can turn the table,” he said.

Mohaymen will be partnered by Junior Alvarado, who will be having his first ride in the Run For the Roses, something which Yutake Take achieved 21 years ago when he was 14th on Ski Captain.

Take was in the saddle when Lani broke awkwardly at Meydan in the UAE Derby but his partner powered down the stretch to scalp Polar River. That run secured not only the thick end of $US2million but also secured entry to what the Americans refer to as the most exciting two minutes in sport.

Unlike Mohaymen, Lani has proved a real handful during morning trackwork since he arrived at Churchill Downs on April 3 and several times has elected to largely do his own thing.

A fortnight ago he posted a workout that was so slow it was barely good enough to make the register. Last week he started off at a leisurely jog before deciding to finally get down to a proper workout after 400 metres. Reportedly on Monday he dug in his heels during a stalls test and on Tuesday he whinnied at virtually every horse he could see.

Lani, who will become just the second Japanese runner in the Kentucky Derby, is housed in barn 17. It has never provided cover for a Kentucky Derby winner but was used by Tapit, the sire of Lani, Mohaymen and Steve Asmussen’s Creator, before he finished ninth to Smarty Jones in 2004.

“If he wants to run on Derby day, we have a big chance,” Take told reporters last week.

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