Nyquist Overcomes Brutal Trip to Land Juvenile

Reddam Racing’s Nyquist (Uncle Mo) all but shored up Juvenile Champion honors Saturday when he annexed the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to keep his record a spotless five-for-five. Out of the first crop by Juvenile winner Uncle Mo, Nyquist is out of a half-sister to GSW Seeking the Sky, dam of GISW Sahara Sky (Pleasant Tap). Reddam Racing purchased him this March at the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale for $400,000 after breezing in 10 2/5. Nyquist wired his Santa Anita debut for trainer Doug O’Neill June 5 and, after a couple of months on the bench, returned to win the Aug. 8 GII Best Pal S. by 5 1/4 lengths ahead of Swipe (Birdstone). That exacta cashed in the GI Del Mar Futurity Sept. 7 and again when stretching out to 1 1/16 miles in the GI FrontRunner S. Sept. 26 at Santa Anita.

The two foes, drawn alongside each other in the stalls, completed the exacta yet again, this time on an even grander stage in the GI Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland. Drawn stall 13, Nyquist left there running, but so did many of his fellow juveniles and he was some six wide going into the first turn as Riker (Include) made the running. When his stablemate Ralis (Square Eddie) made a move into contention midway up the backstretch, Nyquist was still going well, but still trapped out off the track. Though he came under a Mario Gutierrez ride midway on the turn and with about 2 1/2 furlongs to the wire, Nyquist was somehow able to sustain his momentum, hit the front at the sixteenth pole and held on to defeat Swipe by 3/4 of a length. Brody’s Cause (Giant’s Causeway) made up decent ground late to finish third, while favored Greenpointcrusader (Bernardini) fell far back, but finished with some interest to split the field.

“The race didn’t unfold like I expected,” O’Neill said. “We thought, being on the outside there, with kind of a short run to the first turn, we’d be up on the lead, saving ground. I have to watch the replay, but from my recollection we were five or six wide. But [jockey] Mario [Gutierrez] did his Mario thing where he just never panicked. From Day one, before this horse ever debuted, he had the mind and the stride of a two-turn horse. When he debuted, like, ‘wow.’ The other day, maybe he wasn’t that impressive, maybe because we came back quickly. He was pressured early, and I think with that race under his belt, he turned it around today.”

Nyquist is O’Neills fifth Breeders’ Cup winner and second Juvenile winner, along with Stevie Wonderboy in 2005.

Gutierrez explained, “I had a little trouble getting over from my outside post [13], but except for the first turn I had good position. Being wide wasn’t a problem. I didn’t want to get to the rail and get covered up. He was running fine on the outside and so we just stayed there. I’ve always had confidence in this horse. He’s a good one.”

Keith Desormeaux, who trains Swipe, as well as fourth-place finisher Exaggerator (Curlin), said, “How could you not be thrilled with Swipe’s race? He was a $5,000 yearling and he’s making good money every time he loads the gates and running on the top level. How could we not be thrilled? Being that he’s by Birdstone, he should get better as he gets older and want to go longer. The way that he’s relaxing into these races and finishing strong, more distance for him can only be an advantage. Today he gave me a thrill through the lane, but I had mixed emotions because I’m pulling for exaggerator and then here comes Swipe. And then I gave up on Exaggerator because I could tell he was beat, and my emotions re-ignited again on the other one, so it was cool.”

“I thought Brody’s Cause ran a great race,” said Dale Romans, who trains Brody’s Cause and 12th-place finisher Unbridled Outlaw. “Really no excuses. He had to steady maybe one little time but you have to expect that with a closer. I was very disappointed with Unbridled Outlaw. I think he is every bit as good as ‘Brody’ and today (jockey Mike Smith) said he got very nervous in the post parade. That’s a little of (his sire) Unbridled’s Song coming out in him. He’s never done that before. We are going to have to do a few things to adjust and regroup and come back.”

Saturday, Keeneland

SENTIENT JET BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE-GI, $1,840,000, KEE, 10-31, 2yo, c/g, 1 1/16m, 1:43.79, ft.

1–NYQUIST, 122, c, 2, by Uncle Mo

1st Dam: Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry

2nd Dam: Seeking Regina, by Seeking the Gold

3rd Dam: Fulbright Scholar, by Cox’s Ridge

($180,000 Wlg ’13 KEENOV; $230,000 Ylg ’14 KEESEP;

$400,000 2yo ’15 FTFMAR). O-Reddam Racing LLC;

B-Summerhill Farm (KY); T-Doug F. O’Neill; J-Mario Gutierrez.

$1,100,000. Lifetime Record: 5-5-0-0, $1,613,600. Werk Nick

Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
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2–Swipe, 122, c, 2, Birdstone–Avalanche Lily, by Grand Slam.

($5,000 Ylg ’14 KEESEP). O-Big Chief Racing LLC, James Justice

& Billy Shelton; B-Lou Oppenheim (KY); T-J. Keith Desormeaux.

$360,000.
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3–Brody’s Cause, 122, c, 2, Giant’s Causeway–Sweet Breanna,

by Sahm. ($350,000 Ylg ’14 KEESEP). O-Albaugh Family Stable;

B-Gabriel Duignan, William Arvin Jr. & Petaluma Bloodstock

(KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $200,000.
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Margins: HF, 2 1/4, NK. Odds: 4.70, 29.40, 6.10.

Also Ran: Exaggerator, Cocked and Loaded, Riker, Greenpointcrusader, Conquest Big E, Waterloo Bridge (Ire), Siding Spring, Rated R Superstar, Unbridled Outlaw, Isotherm, Ralis. Scratched: Tom’s Ready, Tale of S’avall. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.