Nyquist, with more than US$3.3 million on his card, came into the race as the richest Kentucky Derby entrant in the history of the race and he’ll head to the Preakness as just the eighth unbeaten Kentucky Derby victor.
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Off at odds of 2-1, Nyquist broke perfectly from the gate and allowed Danzing Candy, breaking from the extreme outside, to pass him and take the lead before the field hit the far turn. Gun Runner was game, and just held third over Mohaymen, while the late running fifth-place finisher, Suddenbreakingnews just missed passing both by a jump or two.
Ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who also won the Derby with I’ll Have Another in 2012, Nyquist pushed his record to 8-0. He went on to win the Preakness, but O’Neill scratched him with an injured tendon the morning before the Belmont Stakes, where he was an early 4-5 favorite to take the Triple Crown.
Gutierrez, who won his second Derby, stayed cool early, guided Nyquist easily into stalking position, and used decent urging down the stretch, but nothing like Victor Espinoza used in the stretch of the Derby a year ago, when he was criticized for using the whip on American Pharoah 32 times.
As long as the colt remains sound, he will race in the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore.
Everyone had stopped by the barn of trainer Doug O’Neill and told him that his colt Nyquist did not have the stamina to last a mile and a quarter.
There are not many Kentucky Derbys that can be proclaimed over, only moments after it started, but losing betting tickets were being crumbled in knotted fists as soon as Nyquist floated out of the first turn and then skipped down the backstretch as if he had just gotten out of school.
Mario and Nyquist were brought together by the horse’s owner John Paul Reddam.
After 36 years of futility, American Pharoah proved emphatically that the Triple Crown was well within the realm of possibility for a horse that deserves to be in the company of immortals.
But, whatever the pedigree of his on-ice predecessor, Nyquist (the horse, to be clear) has been dominant on the track in his own right.
But Nyquist has beaten Exaggerator four times already, which made Reddam joke, “I would’ve thought he was sick of us by now”. O’Neill would love to have another Triple Crown opportunity.
Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, Nyquist paid $6.60 to win. “For someone to buy two [winning] lotto tickets in a lifetime, I don’t think that’s ever happened”.
O’Neill, as is his wont, deferred to the team in general and Nyquist specifically for this win. No one could remember the last time four consecutive favorites had won the Kentucky Derby. “I knew Exaggerator was coming, but when Nyquist feels somebody coming, he just has another gear”. Talking to him helps me. He was mystified by O’Neill’s decision to train at Keeneland instead of Churchill Downs during the runup to the race but praised the winning trainer for sticking to his guns. He said he’s still in contact with the jockey regularly.
“He’s just a special horse”, O’Neill said.
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Trojan Nation, the only horse in the Derby who has never won a race, remained undefeated. “I don’t know about the Triple Crown but he’ll have a great year”.
