Nyquist

The fireworks at the annual Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton November sales are always a highlight of the year as seven-figure bids abound on some of racing's top broodmares and broodmare prospects. But after the dust settles, it can be years before words get out on the breeding careers of the sales' top offerings. We caught up with the connections of a few of these most recent million-dollar broodmares and learned of their mating plans for 2021 in the first edition of our 'Million-Dollar Matings' series.   LADY AURELIA (Scat Daddy-D'Wildcat Speed,...

4th-Aqueduct, $77,600, Msw, 2-8, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:38.47, ft, 15 1/2 lengths. MO DESSERTS (f, 3, Nyquist--Frozen Treat, by Dynaformer) was third behind Monday's Ruthless S. third-place finisher Dealing Justice (Commissioner) and the reopposing O'Gotten Girl (Competitive Edge) in her six-furlong debut at this oval Jan. 10. The 6-5 second choice prompted the pace from the rail as 4-5 favorite O'Gotten Girl was narrowly in front. Mo Desserts grabbed command nearing the far turn and, while the favorite kept her company on the bend, she shrugged off that foe at...

Vequist (Nyquist) cemented her status as the leader of what appeared to be an open division earlier in the fall with a decisive score in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 6. The dark bay finished second in her July 29 debut at Parx, but her connections clearly had plenty of faith in her after that effort, sending her to Saratoga for the GI Spinaway S. Sept. 6. She demolished the field that day, earning her diploma by 9 1/2 lengths and becoming her freshman sire's first Grade I...

The stallions we reach today are the first actually to have given some initial clue as to their ability to replicate those assets that earned them a place at stud. True, only their most precocious stock have so far tested the water and it should be obvious that limited conclusions can be drawn from so small a sample of their work. But we know the apathy of commercial breeders about producing racehorses. So long as they maximize their value as yearlings, the rest is gravy. That's why they get behind...

Already a winner of the GI Kentucky Derby with 2016 hero Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and I'll Have Another (Flower Alley) in 2012, trainer Doug O'Neill is looking forward to the New Year with Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), Wipe the Slate (Nyquist) and Team Merchants (Nyquist) among his well-regarded sophomores. Hot Rod Charlie worked five furlongs at Santa Anita Saturday in a bullet :59.40, fastest of 64 drills at the distance. A narrow winner in his fourth career start at Santa Anita on October, Hot Rod Charlie closed to finish second-at...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-Gulfstream, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, post time: 1:05 p.m. ET One week after 'TDN Rising Star' Mutasaabeq made a victorious sophomore debut in the Mucho Macho Man S., Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell Stable is set to be represented by another son of Into Mischief in the form of first-time starter LAMUTANAATTY. Pegged as the 7-2 second choice on the morning line, the $177K Fasig-Tipton November weanling turned $700K Keeneland September yearling is out of a winning daughter of MSW Win's Fair Lady (Dehere), a full-sister to...

6th-Tampa Bay Downs, $20,000, Msw, 12-9, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.24, ft, 13 1/4 lengths. WITSEL (c, 2, Nyquist--Bailzee {SP, $152,580}, by Grand Slam), sent off at 5-1 to become the 16th career winner for his GI Kentucky Derby-winning sire (by Uncle Mo), showed good early foot to settle just behind pace setter Thrown For A Loupe (Gemologist), who showed the way through a :22.62 quarter. Scraping the paint while 8-5 choice Equuleus (Maclean's Music) loomed three wide as the leading charged for the quarter-mile pole, Witzel gained the advantage turning for...

Keeneland has cataloged 79 lots, including mares in foal to such noteworthy stallions as Not This Time, Nyquist, Practical Joke and Yoshida (Jpn), for its December Digital Sale, to be held Tuesday, Dec. 15 as part of Keeneland's Digital Sales Ring platform. The December Sale catalog is available at keenelanddigital.com. The catalog features 41 broodmares or broodmare prospects, 12 yearlings, eight weanlings, six racing or broodmare prospects, two racing or stallion prospects, one stallion prospect, six stallions, two shares and one breeding right. Online bidding opens at 10 a.m. ET...

This business about sire lines has been driving your correspondent a bit nuts for the past 40 years, dating from when he first came to understand the realm, initially through the discourses of the great analyst Dr. Franco Varola and the estimable author Abe Hewitt. In those days we all not only relied on the historical database of a rather limited number of stallions but also on the patience needed to assess the long-term impact of form, function, and pedigree. You had Phalaris and Swynford, then Nearco and Hyperion, then...

Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Swilcan Stables's Vequist (Nyquist) put an exclamation point on a very strong freshman season for her sire (by Uncle Mo)--a winner of the track-and-trip GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 2015--while posting a mild 6-1 upset in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The market's fifth choice behind the unbeaten foursome of 'TDN Rising Star' Princess Noor (Not This Time), GI Frizette S. victoress Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief), local GI Darley Alcibiades S. heroine Simply Ravishing (Laoban) and 'Rising Star' Girl Daddy (Uncle Mo) broke alertly and...

The bloodstock industry in Kentucky is heavily weighted to the commercial marketplace, and when the first yearlings of a stallion sell well, sometimes even experienced commercial breeders can get momentarily caught up in the euphoria. A breeder called me after the Fasig-Tipton October Sale to say that he was going to breed to such a stallion next year. That's great, I told him, if he had a strong opinion on the horse, but I reminded him that he breeds to sell and he'd be breeding to a fourth-year sire, meaning...

You can't really resent someone hoarding the ammunition, if he only needs it because he's being forced to play Russian roulette. That's pretty much how things are for all those new, unproven stallions who corral such huge books of mares. Yes, I remain ever aggrieved on behalf of those quiet achievers who never get commercial traction, despite results that will almost invariably prove beyond their emerging rivals. But I do feel increasing sympathy for the young guns, because their margin for error is zero. They have to land running, or...