The top three finishers from the Nov. 4 GII Nashua S. stretch out a furlong at Aqueduct Saturday for the GII Remsen S. Shadwell Stable's Mohaymen (Tapit), a half-brother to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner New Year's Day (Street Cry {Ire}) who was the $2.2-million co-topper at last year's Keeneland September sale, leads the way. The Kiaran McLaughlin pupil started repaying his owner's investment with an out-of-the-box score sprinting at Belmont Sept. 19, and justified favoritism in the Nashua when he overcame a no-cover trip to defeat Flexibility (Bluegrass Cat) by 1 3/4 lengths with Sail Ahoy (Bernardini) another neck back. McLaughlin took a tough beat in this race two years ago when Nashua winner Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile) missed by a nose to Honor Code (A.P. Indy).
Flexibility bested a pair of next-out winners in a restricted special weight Oct. 10, including Spooked Out (Catienus), who cruised by 9 1/2 lengths earlier this month before dueling and fading to fourth as the favorite in Friday's King's Swan S. Flexibility will be joined by fellow Chad Brown trainee Gift Box (Twirling Candy). Third from off the pace upstate Aug. 22, he got his nose down on the line in a roughly run off-the-turf route at Belmont Oct. 3. Runner-up Matt King Coal (Cool Coal Man) returned to cruise by 5 3/4 lengths later that month with a strong 96 Beyer Speed Figure, and would've been a major player in here.
Sail Ahoy, who goes out for the same trainer as the aforementioned Honor Code in Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, rallied to don cap and gown when stretched to a mile across town Sept. 12, but was fourth in the sloppy GI Champagne S. Oct. 3. The half-brother to Grade I winners Pine Island (Arch) and Point of Entry (Dynaformer) will sport blinkers for the first time here.
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