Nyquist Finally Earned Respect, Or Did He?

Nyquist and trainer Doug O'Neill | Leslie Martin

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No. 2 beat No. 1 yesterday at Gulfstream Park. Thumped him, in fact.

The great showdown between Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and Mohaymen (Tapit) in the GI Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park didn't come close to living up to the hype. It was a one-horse race, with Nyquist running away from his more highly regarded rival and eight others. Though a Breeders' Cup winner and Eclipse champion, it was the most important win of Nyquist's career. It raised his career record to 7-for-7, added $1.6 million to his earnings ($1 million of which came courtesy of Fasig-Tipton's bonus), gave him his fourth Grade I victory and a decisive win over a colt that seemed to be everyone's pick to win the GI Kentucky Derby.

He will now enter the Derby with credentials unmatched since Seattle Slew in 1977. That's the last time an undefeated champion competed in the Derby, and even Slew had only won three Grade I's prior to arriving at Churchill Downs.

This is the best horse there's ever been that no one believes in.

In hindsight, his record coming into the Florida Derby was better than Mohaymen's. As good as he had been in his brief career, Mohaymen had never so much as competed in a Grade I race prior to yesterday and made his reputation not in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile but in the GII Nashua S. and GII Remsen S. at Aqueduct against Flexibility (Bluegrass Cat). Yet, Mohaymen was the betting favorite and widely considered the sexier horse.

That was no surprise. Nyquist has spent his entire career trying to prove himself. He had won the two most important 2-year-old races in Southern California, the GI Del Mar Futurity and the GI FrontRunner S., but was sent off at 9-2 in the Juvenile. The main knock on him at the time was that he didn't seem to be that fast. He had an 82 Beyer figure in the Del Mar Futurity and a nothing-to-write-home-about 79 in the FrontRunner. He won the Juvenile by a half-length but once again it was not good enough. On the same card, the brilliant filly Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) had run faster and had been more impressive. Nyquist's Juvenile Beyer figure of 89 was once again a number that got no one excited.

He came out as a 3-year-old with a win in the GII San Vicente S., but that didn't move the needle, either. It was a seven-furlong stakes with five competitors, not exactly the type of race that sends its winners off to the Hall of Fame.

Now, he will be the heavy favorite in the Kentucky Derby and widely regarded as one of the biggest stars, pre-race, to come around in a long time. Or will he? Don't be so sure.

When the bandwagon has been empty for so long, can it fill up overnight, after one race? The critics haven't run out of ammunition.

• His sire is Uncle Mo and Uncle Mo never won beyond a mile and a sixteenth and seemed best suited to a one-turn mile. Because Nyquist is from his first crop, no Uncle Mo has ever had a chance to prove that they can be at their best at 10 furlongs.

• He bore out in the stretch yesterday, the second time in a row that has happened? Is that something to worry about?

• If you consider that Mohaymen, who was fourth, threw in a clunker yesterday, who did he really beat? Majesto (Tiznow) was second, only 3 1/4 lengths behind Nyquist. He just broke his maiden in his prior start. If Mohaymen was not in the field, it would have been said that this was a pedestrian lineup of opponents that Nyquist faced.

• His time in the Florida Derby was 1:49.11. Nine races earlier on the card, Valid (Medaglia d'Oro) won the Skip Away in 1:48.42. Granted, he's an older horse, but he's not a star.

• His dam, Seeking Gabrielle, won only once…at six furlongs…in a $20,000 maiden claimer.

• What if Mor Spirit (Eskendereya), Danzing Candy (Twirling Candy), Cupid (Tapit), Shagaf (Bernardini) or someone else runs a huge race in their next start? Might they simply be better than Nyquist?

These may or may not be legitimate questions, questions that will be answered in the Derby.

Or maybe we've just been guilty of over-thinking things. Nyquist does nothing but win. What's not to like?

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