Reddam Racing's Nyquist (Uncle Mo) turned in his third work since a third-place effort in the May 21 GI Preakness S. Monday at Santa Anita and, while connections are happy with how the GI Kentucky Derby winner is training, no race has been picked out for his next start. The bay colt worked four furlongs in company with stablemate Malware (Square Eddie) Monday in :48.60 (11/47).
“He went really well,” trainer Doug O'Neill said. “We're really happy with him. He's cooling out great, so we're all smiling right now.”
Nyquist, who suffered his first loss after battling through a torrid pace in the Preakness, worked four furlongs in an identical :48.60 June 17. He worked five furlongs before the first race at Santa Anita June 25 in 1:02.07.
Asked where last year's champion juvenile could make his next start, O'Neill said, “I'm going to meet with Paul [Reddam] on Wednesday, so we should know more Thursday. You can circle a race like the [Kentucky] Derby when you're heading that way, but that's not the case now. You're at a point where you're going to run him when he's right.”
O'Neill added, “When you say a specific race and it doesn't work out, there is a lot of second-guessing, so I don't know if my stress level can handle being painted in a corner. We'll let the horse tell us and hopefully it will be soon.”
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