Story and photo by Stepper Toth
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Midway’s Shadwell Farm fell short this year at the Kentucky
Derby with Mohaymen finishing a close fourth and Shagaf finishing last. Nyquist
was the winner.
Mohaymen, bought by Shadwell for $2.2 million as a yearling,
was a 12-1 shot as the Derby began. Shagaf, foaled at Shadwell’s Lexington
farm, was 55-1 and did not finish, as new jockey Joel Rosario saw him tiring, pulled him up and walked him off the track.
Mohaymen was again not able to prove himself against
Nyquist, who had ruined Mohaymen’s perfect record of 4-0 on April 2 at the
Florida Derby, where Mohaymen placed fourth on a muddy track.
In the post parade, Mohaymen jockey Junior Alvarado appeared to look at the videoboard as it showed Nyquist. |
Nyquist’s win immediately spurred speculation the he could
win the Triple Crown of the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, as
American Pharoah did last year for the first time in 37 years.
Mohaymen’s trainer, Lexington native Kiaran McLaughlin. told
reporters, “Congratulations to Nyquist, he’s still undefeated. He’s a star. I
don’t know about the Triple Crown, but we’ll have a great year.”
As for his own horse, McLaughlin said Mohaymen broke too
slowly. He told reporters, “It was too much ground to make up by then; he
didn’t get away great and he [jockey Junior Alvarado] said that he spun his
wheels too early, but he had a pretty good trip and saved ground around the
first turn. He came out and put in a good run.”
At the finish, Mohaymen was only a head behind third-place
Gun Runner, and a nose in front of Suddenbreakingnews. And while he didn’t return any money to bettors, Mohaymen still won
Shadwell fourth-place money of $100,000. Nyquist won $1,631,600, Exaggerator
$400,000, Gun Runner $200,000 and Suddenbreakingnews $60,000.
Shagaf’s trainer, Chad Brown, told reporters, “Shagaf was a
huge disappointment. He got up there in the race, attending a pretty hot pace,
but I liked the fact that he was out of trouble. Then he just completely spit
the bit. I’m not sure what exactly happened. We’ll have to go back to the
drawing board. He trained so well leading up to it, that’s a surprise to me, a
disappointment.”
This year’s Derby had the second largest attendance ever,
with 167,227 people going through the gates at Churchill Downs.
This video, from NBC and Churchill Downs, via the Lexington Herald-Leader, shows the entire race, including Shagaf being pulled up in the final furlong:
This video, from NBC and Churchill Downs, via the Lexington Herald-Leader, shows the entire race, including Shagaf being pulled up in the final furlong:
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