With two Kentucky Derby titles under his belt now, Gutierrez may have another shot at the Triple Crown just as his thorough training and special connection with Nyquist won him on Saturday.
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American Pharoah, who swept the trilogy last year, ending a 36-year drought, was close by yesterday but too busy to care about Nyquist. Baffert’s entry Mor Spirit, runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby, wasn’t a serious contender and finished 10th.
It was a second Kentucky Derby victory for O’Neill, Gutierrez and Canadian owner Paul Reddam, who teamed to win the 2012 Run for the Roses with I’ll Have Another. Gutierrez became the first jockey in 118 years to win his first two Derby starts.
The last undefeated Kentucky Derby victor was Seattle Slew in 1977.
O’Neill said that Nyquist will likely ship to Baltimore on Monday where he will begin to get ready for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness, at Pimlico on May 21.
“You just felt there was no way you could be nervous because you just felt like you were going to the gym with Kobe Bryant”, O’Neill said. “You know he would find a way to pull it out at the end and he did”. We would have fell off of him before we got in the gate.’ Mario has got ice in his veins. “What a ride, what a wide”.
He saddled Catalina Red to a 14-1 surprise win in the $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes.
“I hit it big a couple years ago and keep hoping I will again”, McKinley said. How special was the run by Nyquist? A day before he was to run in the Belmont Stakes for his opportunity to make history, I’ll Have Another was withdrawn from the race with a tendon injury. If you want to understand the Derby, you need to see this movie at Churchill Downs.
Keith Desormeaux, who trains Exaggerator, said he would like a rematch in the Preakness. At any human sport he’d be the top notch athlete.
The bay colt who lacks any distinctive markings won the Kentucky Derby by 1 lengths on Saturday, improving to 8-0 in his career as the fourth consecutive favorite to win the race. Gutierrez rode I’ll Have Another to victory behind the leadership of O’Neill and Reddam.
Horse racing is all about chance and Nyquist just kept delivering, winning both of his three-year-old starts leading into the Kentucky Derby. “No words can describe it. There was pressure”.
In the meantime, Reddam was just enjoying his colt’s performance.
“What a horse. Awesome”, Zayat said Saturday night. “Our strategy was we were going to take it to them”. I love the way that we fired out of there and he sat behind Danzing Candy. “We’re just lucky to be a part of that”.
“Congratulations to Nyquist, he’s still undefeated”.
“He’s doing great”, O’Neill said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All week long, people prowling the backstretch at Churchill Downs were saying a lot of things about the thoroughbred class of 2016. Gun Runner finished a head in front of the Kiaran McLaughlin-trained Mohaymen, who was a nose in front of Suddenbreakingnews. “Except for his maiden race, where he really did get tested, he has won every one of his races with a little something left in the tank”.
The race was so formful that second-favorite Exaggerator was second and third-favorite Gun Runner was third.
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That said, Gutierrez admitted that he did not know Exaggerator, the second choice among bettors, was coming on strong. “With a horse this good, we wanted to treat it with respect and the reverence that we owe the horse”.
