HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Mohaymen has remained unbeaten, winning the Grade II G$350,000 Holy Bull Stakes by 3½ lengths Saturday at Gulfstream Park for his fourth victory in four starts and moving closer to a Kentucky Derby chance.
Jockey Junior Alvardo rode the gray son of Tapit. Mohaymen is trained Kiaran McLaughlin. Greenpointcrusader finished second in the field of six.
Saturday's victory increased Mohaymen's career earnings to $555,000 and earned him 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to give him 20 in the system used to decide the field for the season's first Triple Crown race at Churchill Downs in May.
Mohaymen finished the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.07 for his third stakes victory, the overwhelming favorite paying $2.60.
Next up for Mohaymen is likely the Fountain of Youth on Feb. 27 and the Florida Derby on April 2, both at Gulfstream.
WITHERS STAKES
Sunny Ridge upsets 1-2 favorite
Sunny Ridge moved into the Kentucky Derby picture with a victory over Vorticity on Saturday in the $250,000 Withers Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct in New York.
The gray New Jersey-bred son of Holy Bull earned 10 qualifying points toward a Derby starting berth. Flexibility, winner of the Jerome Stakes and the 1-2 favorite, finished fourth.
Breaking from the outside post in the six-horse field, Sunny Ridge engaged the pace-setting Vorticity coming out of the first turn, and it was a two-way race the rest of the way with Sunny Ridge prevailing by three quarters of a length. The time was 1:46.99 for the 1 1/16 miles.
It was the third victory in six starts for Sunny Ridge, owned by Monmouth Park executive Dennis Drazin and trained by Jason Servis, who came into the race off second-place finishes in the Grade I Champagne at Belmont Park and in the Grade III Delta Downs Jackpot at Vinton, La.
Sunny Ridge, ridden by Manny Franco, paid $9.50, $4.20 and $5.30.
Servis is the brother of John Servis, who trained Smarty Jones to a sweep of Oaklawn Park's 3-year-old series and the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2004.
Servis said Sunny Ridge's next race likely will be a return visit to Aqueduct for either the $400,000 Gotham Stakes on March 5 or the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 9. Vorticity returned $6 and $7.90. Adventist, making only his second start after an 11 1/4 length debut victory, got third. He paid $8.60 to show. Fourth-place finisher Flexibility was followed by Donegal Moon and King Kranz.
Sports on 01/31/2016