After losing to Nyquist in their previous four meetings, the pair finally broke through with a dominating performance at the racetrack where Kent launched his Hall of Fame career almost 30 years ago and his brother Keith began his path towards a career in thoroughbred training. Exaggerator became the first Derby runner-up to win the Preakness since 1993.
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“He (Nyquist) didn’t bring it today and more than anything Exaggerator just ran a monstrous race”.
O’Neill, Nyquist jockey Mario Gutierrez and owner Paul Reddam, of Windsor, Ont., teamed in 2012 to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with I’ll Have Another. Nyquist – who’s named for the NHL’s Gustav Nyquist by his hockey fan owner – has now gone 8 for 9 in major races.
Trainer Doug O’Neill made no excuses, saying only that he didn’t know if the sloppy track was the difference in the race.
“My horse loves the mud”, Romans quipped to AL.com. Although Exaggerator wasn’t able to take full advantage of Nyquist’s fast fractions in the Kentucky Derby, the difference here was made by his jockey.
Now, speculation surrounding a possible triple crown is also effectively silenced. Handicappers speculated before the race that Nyquist could win the Triple Crown with Exaggerator in second every time.
The club records show some 44,000 races a year ago and over 46,000 in 2014 in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Someone asked Exaggerator trainer Keith Desormeaux if his horse finally wore down Nyquist.
A heavy overnight rain had left the Pimlico track muddy.
The gray day got off to a bad start at Pimlico Race Course with the deaths of two horses in early races.
Nine-year-old gelding Homeboykris fell over and died while heading back to the barn after winning the day’s first race.
The animal welfare organization takes issue with the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the industry, as well as “early-age racing, breeding for speed rather than physical soundness, and inhumane disposition of poor-performing horses”. Him going fast early was really my idea, thinking, ‘He’s the best horse; take it to them.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre rubs the head of Kentucky Derby hopeful Homeboykris in the stable area at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, April 21, 2010. The filly’s jockey, Daniel Centeno, broke his collarbone in the spill that occurred on a turn of the race that was run on wet turf.
Exaggerator’s trainer Keith Desormeaux said of his horse’s win: “I hope it’s not only because of the muddy track”.
Pimlico Race Course has been a disaster for Pradmedya’s owners, Gretchen and Roy Jackson.
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She was dueling with Bayakoa down the stretch of the Distaff in the 1990 Breeders’ Cup when she broke the bone in her right front ankle, a fatal injury.
