McLaughlin Hopeful Frosted Continues Hot Streak

With 18 wins from 41 starts over the past month and a 50% strike rate at the Keeneland spring meet, it is difficult to debate that the Kiaran McLaughlin barn is the hottest in the country right now. The conditioner will attempt to keep that recent streak alive on the grandest of stages when he sends out Godolphin Racing’s Frosted (Tapit) in the GI Kentucky Derby May 2 at Churchill Downs.

 “The race is priceless,” said McLaughlin. “You can’t put a price on winning the Kentucky Derby. I would love to win it myself and I would love to win it for Godolphin.”

Fresh off a rallying victory in Aqueduct’s GI Twinspires.com Wood Memorial S. Apr. 4, McLaughlin is the first to admit that Frosted has been a project for his barn. After kicking off his sophomore campaign with a runner-up effort behind Upstart (Flatter) in the Jan. 24 GII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream, the grey took command at the head of the stretch but stopped abruptly en-route to a fourth-place finish in that venue’s GII Fountain of Youth S. Feb. 21.

“We were quite frustrated [by the race]–myself and my team–so we decided to just change everything that we could,” recalled McLaughlin.

McLaughlin noted that Frosted’s makeover during the month of March included a switch in riders from Irad Ortiz Jr. to Joel Rosario, a corrective procedure to fix palatal instability, an adjustment to the size of his blinkers and an assessment of whether the horse idled after passing his rivals.

“Joel Rosario worked him behind horses in a very fast 3/4 of a mile [Mar.13], which I don’t do very often,” the trainer continued. “That work went great, and then we did a [minor] procedure to help him from displacing [his palate]. And he only missed one day of training–not even that. So we took care of that, and we decided to change racetracks and went back to Aqueduct, where he broke his maiden and where he ran second in the GII Remsen. We changed everything that we could.”

The efforts of McLaughlin’s team were evident in the Wood Memorial, where Frosted raced wide behind a modest pace and rallied to notch a two-length score over longshot Tencendur (Warrior’s Reward). The trainer said he is optimistic that Frosted can replicate that performance on the first Saturday in May.

“So many of the major contenders have speed, so it was great that we could come from well back that day and handle the dirt well,” reflected McLaughlin. “Even though [Rosario] pulled him out down the backside because he thought the kick-back was a little severe that day, he had plenty of dirt on his blinkers and on his face. So we like the style that we have.”

With the goal of keeping Frosted in the same routine that led to success at Aqueduct, the colt was returned to Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida to complete his preparation for the Derby. The homebred worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 there Apr. 16, and according to McLaughlin, is scheduled to have his final breeze over the coming weekend. The trainer said he does not expect Frosted to require any further adjustments between now and Derby day.

“We would just like to adjust the tough field, but we can’t do that–it might be the toughest Derby we’ve had in quite a few years,” quipped McLaughlin.