Triple Crown fervor already revving up
Nyquist enters with plenty of buzz in a quest to repeat history
For 37 years, thoroughbred racing waited and waited for the right horse to come along.
People who follow the sport hoped for that one special animal who could end the constant disappointment. Since 1978, the Triple Crown trophy — awarded to a horse that won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes — had gone unclaimed.
Then, last year, along came the magnificent America Pharoah and all was right again.
“He took horse racing from the back page of the sports section to the front page of the sports section,” said trainer Doug O’Neill, who didn’t have a horse in the 2015 Triple Crown series.
When American Pharoah was charging to history last year, his human connections were colorful people: trainer Bob Baffert, owner Ahmed Zayat and jockey Victor Espinoza.
With the Kentucky Derby looming in six days, the major players have changed. Heading into the Run for the Roses, the hot horse is Nyquist.
AndO’Neill is the trainer of California-based horse, a sleek bay colt who has won all seven of his career starts. When Saturday’s starting gates open at Louisville’s Churchill Downs, 20 horses will begin their 1¼-mile journey. The winner will be the only one with a chance to duplicate what American Pharoah did last year. ‘Horse to beat’
Alot of people think that horse will be Nyquist.
“I don’t know much about the rest of them, but I know a lot about Nyquist,” said O’Neill, who won the Derby and Preakness in 2012 with I’ll Have Another. “That gives me the optimism that we’re leading the best horse over. Prior to Pharoah doing it, some people thought winning the Triple Crown was impossible. Now, people are coming upto me saying, ‘Do what Pharoah did.’ It’s not that easy.”
Although he has been perfect in his career, there are those who doubt him. He is a son of Uncle Mo, and distance limitations are in his pedigree. Uncle Moonly tried 1¼ miles once in his career, when he finished 10th in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
O’Neill doesn’t worry about that. And Nyquist gets a vote of confidence from Baffert.
“Nyquist is definitely the horse to beat,” said Baffert, who will send Mor Spirit to the Derby. “He has the perfect style.”
Nyquist, who will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez, has shown a high cruising speed. He doesn’t get tired. O’Neill said they have not yet had to ask the colt for ev- erything he has.
Nyquist — a horse that owner-Paul-Reddam-named after Gustav Nyquist, a Swedish hockey player who plays for the Detroit RedWings—iscomingoffa dominating win in the Florida Derby, where he went to the lead never looked back, winning by 31/4 lengths. In the process, he vanquished Mohaymen, who had won his first five starts and was considered to be the Derby favorite. Until then.
O’Neill already has heard the talk about having a Pharoah repeat. Unfair? Of course it is. But that’s the way the sport rolls.
Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973; he was the first horse to get the trinity since Citation in 1948. As the 1970s went on, two more horses (Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmedthe next year) got it done. Then, nothing. Plenty of near misses, but nohorse could get the threepeat.
Before American Pharoah won it, there were just 11 horses that took the Triple Crown between 1919 and 1978.
No one should think it will happen every year.
“I think people hope for greatness,” said trainer Dale Romans, who will run Blue Grass winner Brody’s Cause in the Derby. “You can never expect greatness. If something happened on a regular basis, it would not be greatness. Wegot spoiled in the 1970s. Who knows if we’ll see it again?” Pharoah a phenom
When American Pharoah won the Belmont last June to secure his Triple Crown, a crowd of 90,000 went wild. The popularity of American Pharoah continued to rise. There were 20,000 people at Saratoga Race Course the Friday morning before the Travers Stakes to watch American Pharoah gallop around the historic grounds.
At Keeneland Race Track, the day after American Pharoah won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in his final start, Baffert brought the colt out of his stall to mingle with people on the backstretch.
If things go right for Nyquist, O’Neill said he thinks the horse could be just as popular.
“He loves people,” O’Neill said. “But you have to be crowned with a Kentucky Derby win before you can even start to think about that. It would be quite an honor if he were to win the Derby and then be asked to parade him around. He would love it. Nyquist is a pretty cool dude.”