Nyquist wins Florida Derby; Mohaymen well short
Mohaymen advanced through the far turn and pulled alongside Nyquist in Saturday's Grade I, $1 million Florida Derby. But the challenger never quite saw eye-to-eye with the champ.
Nyquist proved he's a deserving Kentucky Derby favorite five weeks out from Churchill Downs' premier race by rolling to a win at Gulfstream Park, in the process leaving Mohaymen a well-beaten fourth in both horses' final prep.
"What a horse. What a ride," said a thrilled trainer, Doug O'Neill, just after his colt hit the wire 3 1/4 lengths in front of his nearest rival.
The son of Uncle Mo, now a perfect 7-for-7, broke with ease, found the front and pulled away in the stretch. He claimed not just the winner's share of the purse but a $1 million bonus for owner Paul Reddam, O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez as a graduate of a sale last year at Gulfstream.
More lucrative days could be ahead for the same connections as 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another.
Video | Replay Nyquist's Florida Derby win
Nyquist covered 1 ⅛ miles in a final time of 1:49.11, finishing well ahead of runner-up Majesto and Fellowship, two others that could be bound for Churchill Downs with the race having paid out Derby qualifying points on a 100-40-20-10 scale.
Mohaymen took an outside trip seemingly with ease until he came up empty in the final furlongs for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and pushed wide into the stretch by an energetic Nyquist. The gray son of Tapit entered with two wins over Gulfstream's dirt, while Nyquist shipped in just this week with the bonus at stake.
“I saw the gray horse (Mohaymen) coming to my side," Gutierrez said. "I’m riding the race and I didn’t want to be so confident, so if he was going to pass me, he was going to have to pass me running and wide.”
"We were awfully wide throughout, and with the track you never know," McLaughlin added after rain fell earlier in the day at Gulfstream. "We’ll regroup.”
Next for the 2-year-old champion is a return to Keeneland, where he won last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile and will return Sunday. O'Neill pegged the Lexington track as an ideal spot to train up to the Derby for its choice of both main dirt track and synthetic training surface.
A 6-5 second choice to 4-5 favorite Mohaymen, Nyquist paid $4.40 to win and registered his third Grade I victory Saturday. He also put to rest many concerns about distance in his pedigree as a runner from the hottest first-crop sire in the country.
Nyquist, by the way, already has a deal to breed once his racing career ends at Darley in America's Kentucky-based operation. First, he'll make a run at the Triple Crown O'Neill and company fell just short of in 2012, when I'll Have Another retired on the eve of the Belmont Stakes with a minor injury.
"We drew up thinking two preps before the Derby would leave him with fresh legs," O'Neill said. "He’s got a lot of miles underneath him in the morning, and we have a fresh horse for the afternoon.”