Nyquist

Even if most racing is delayed, we're all hoping it will get underway sometime this spring or early summer, if for no other reason than so we can all find out the answer to our annual favorite question. We surveyed some top judges on who their leading first-crop sire is, and to give us some under-the-radar picks as well. DAVID INGORDO My top two picks are between Nyquist and Runhappy, but I will probably give Nyquist the number one slot. We bought several Nyquists ourselves and I've seen several at...

My leading sire for this year would be Nyquist. I was connected with him in my role with Paul Reddam. It's quite rare that you see a two-year-old win three Grade I races and then come back and win the Derby as an unbeaten horse. My number two pick is Air Force Blue. He was a very good two-year-old in Ireland and War Front seems to be a good sire of sires. My favorite horse at the sale at OBS March was Hip 27, a son of Air Force Blue...

With the OBS March Sale slated to kick off the 2-year-old auction season Mar. 17 & 18, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack caught up with prominent bloodstock agent Mike Ryan for a Q&A session. Structor (Palace Malice)--an $850,000 OBS March (:21 1/5) purchase by Ryan from the Pick View LLC, Agent II, consignment at this sale last year--capped a perfect three-for-three season for owners Jeff Drown and Don Rachel and trainer Chad Brown with a dramatic win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. Fellow OBS March...

He's out there right now, hiding in plain sight. Very possibly running today; otherwise, last weekend or the next one. Yet even from the few animals retaining real credibility--by now perhaps no more than three or four dozen--not many of us would feel terribly confident about naming the 146th winner of the Kentucky Derby. So let's just take a moment to reflect again how extraordinary was the man who was able to sieve the 142nd and 143rd winners from crops of 11,000-12,000 (and that's just colts) foaled in North America...

Preparing elite stallions for a strenuous breeding season can be a challenge when also dealing with freezing temperatures in Central Kentucky. Darley has found a program that circumvents the unpredictable climate and also tailors exercise to each individual stallion with the addition of an aqua treadmill at Jonabell Farm. Darley stallion manager Graham Lovatt spoke of his idea for the new fitness plan. "I've always wanted to have an exercise program. Many farms will ride their stallions or use a roller and side reins and go for a hand walk...

Alittlebitearly (Thunder Gulch--Aquilegia, by Alydar), dam of GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern (Offlee Wild), died at Helen Alexander's Middlebrook Farm after producing a healthy filly by GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. The 18-year-old mare was bred by Alexander in partnership with her mother, Helen Groves, and sister, Dorothy Matz. Bayern, purchased by Kaleem Shah for $320,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, won the 2014 Classic, as well as that year's GI William Hill Haskell Invitational S., GII Pennsylvania Derby, and GII Woody Stephens S. Alittlebitearly had no...

In 2016, just a few months after completing a championship season with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Nyquist (Uncle Mo) made the first start of his 3-year-old season in the GII San Vicente S. before adding the GI Florida Derby and GI Kentucky Derby. Reigning Eclipse Award winner Storm the Court (Court Vision) will look to emulate that success by kicking off his season in the seven-furlong test Sunday afternoon at Santa Anita. The bay colt defeated 1-5 Garth (Into Mischief) in his Aug. 10 bow over...

Peter Eurton knows. He has been training since 1989, after all: the year of Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. One, on the West Coast, began his sophomore campaign in an allowance race at Santa Anita over 6 1/2 furlongs, before moving up in distance for the San Felipe 17 days later. The other started out in the Swale over seven furlongs at Gulfstream--the fourth running of a race that had already been won by Chief's Crown and Seeking The Gold--before going up a furlong for the Gotham, and again for...

Through the first three installments of this series, we've repeatedly complained about ever-more manic investment in unproven stallions and the resulting potential for chronic deterioration in the gene pool. So we won't reprise the theme today, other than to remark that this situation creates a rather more immediate and specific challenge for the next group under review. Because while second- and third-season stallions can still offer breeders the possibility of riding an early vogue, this lot have just been exposed to the judgment of the yearling market--which history reveals to...

In 2017, Darley added two multiple Grade I winners to its stallion roster at Jonabell Farm: Nyquist (Uncle Mo), the first unbeaten 2-year-old champion to win the GI Kentucky Derby since Seattle Slew, and Frosted (Tapit), the fastest-ever winner of the GI Met Mile. Both will have their first foals go through the ring at this fall's breeding stock sales. TDN International Editor Kelsey Riley caught up with Darley's Darren Fox to talk about the two sires. KR: What are you seeing, and hearing from others, about the first foals...