Trainer quietly confident as Nyquist targets 2nd leg
In six days, the Preakness Stakes will be history, and the world will know if Nyquist has a shot to make history.
The flashy colt named for an NHL player has won all eight of his career starts with the latest coming in the biggest race of them all — the Kentucky Derby.
Because he was the favorite at Churchill Downs, Nyquist will be the overwhelming choice to win the second leg of the Triple Crown in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
And, if Nyquist wins there, Long Island’s Belmont Park will be jumping on June 11 when he tries for a Triple Crown.
Last year, American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. After such a long drought, it is hard to believe there could be back-to-back winners of what some say is the most elusive prize in all of sports.
“We have more wood to chop,” said Paul Reddam, the Ontario-born owner of Nyquist. “We all realize that. It’s kind of weird that we didn’t have a Triple Crown winner for 30-some years and we could have back-to-back. But we have to win the Preakness first.”
After what happened at Churchill Downs, it would be hard to bet against Nyquist, whom Reddam named after Gustav Nyquist, a forward for his beloved Detroit Red Wings.
Nyquist won the Derby by 1¼ lengths in a time of 2:01.31 — the fastest since Funny Cide went 2:01.19 in 2003. That is just the most recent line on Nyquist’s résumé. Nyquist has won five Grade I races at five different tracks. He has career earnings of $4,954,200. No other horse in the 3-year-old ranks is close. ‘Tough to beat’
Why shouldn’t the members of trainer Doug O’Neill’s camp be confident going into the 13⁄ mile 16- Preakness?
Of course, you won’t hear O’Neill or Reddam boasting of a Preakness win, even though it looks as though their horse towers over the competition.
“If he continues to train the way he is and he stays injury free and he gets a good, clean trip, we’re just very optimistic he’s going to be tough to beat on Preakness Day,” O’Neill said.
At Pimlico, Nyquist is expected to face close to a full field of the maximum 14 horses. The horse with the best chance to spring an upset is Exaggerator, the second-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby.
In the Derby, Exaggerator was the only horse running in the stretch, but he couldn’t catch Nyquist. That was the fourth time Exaggerator ran against Nyquist. He has finished second twice, fourth once and fifth once.
Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux — who rides Exaggerator for his brother/ trainer Keith — said he had to put the brakes on Exaggerator halfway through the race because of traffic. After getting the horse going again, he came running.
“That denied me the opportunity to challenge Nyquist,” Kent Desormeaux said five days after the Derby. “I would have caught him at the eighth pole.”
However, there was doubt as to whether Exaggerator would have won.
“I’m not sure Nyquist would have let me by,” Desormeaux admitted.
Mario Gutierrez, Nyquist’s jockey, said he was never concerned. Pick up the pace
That is the strength of Nyquist. He never seems to get tired. The horse has won from on the lead and from off it. Gutierrez said he has yet to have to really ask the colt for everything he has.
In the Preakness, it is expected that there will be horses who guarantee a quick pace. If that happens, O’Neill said there has been discussion about whether to change the strategy from the Derby, in which Gutierrez and Nyquist sat off the pace and then made a big run.
“If there are two, three speed horses who go, we have the luxury of settling in third or fourth,” O’Neill said. “If they don’t go, we can take it to them.”
That is what most people expect Nyquist to do Saturday. If that is the case, it will be an interesting three weeks getting set for Belmont Park and the chance for two Triple Crown winners in as many years.
But O’Neill is not going to allow those thoughts to blur his vision as he gets ready for the Preakness.
“The one thing Paul (Reddam) has taught me is never say ‘See you in the winner’s circle,’ or, ‘We can’t get beat,’” O’Neill said. “That always seems like the kiss of death.”