Nyquist Remains Perfect in the FrontRunner Stakes

NYQUIST kept his perfect record intact with a hard fought victory in today's FrontRunner Stakes  (G-1) at Santa Anita.

Taking advantage of post position #1, GO LONG jumped to a quick early lead with MT VEEDER on the outside and a hard held Nyquist between them. Go Long established a short half-length lead, getting the first quarter in :23.04. They continued through a half mile in :47 as BLAMEITONTHELAW surged up up the rail to settle behind Go Long and Swipe was in close quarters behind Nyquist.

After running six furlongs in 1:12. 47, Go Long was finished and began backing up. Nyquist grabbed the lead as Mt Veeder, still on the outside, attempted to go with his rival, but weakened. Meanwhile, Swipe found a small opening on the rail and scraped the paint trying to get to Nyquist. jockey Mario Gutierrez  moved Nyquist closer to the rail to intimidate the gallant SWIPE and the two bumped slightly down the stretch.

Nyquist refused to let his rival by and hit the wire in front by ¾ length. Swipe settled for second, 5 ¾ lengths in front of HOLLYWOOD DON who passed tired horses for third. RARE CANDY completed the Superfecta.  Nyquist completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.89.

After a Stewards Inquiry into the bumping incident, the results were made final with no change.

Nyquist returned $3.00, $2.40 and $2.10 to win, Swipe paid $4.80, $3.00 for place and Hollywood Don paid $3.20 to show.  The $1.00 Exacta was $7.10, the $1.00 Trifecta paid $26.90 and the $1.00 Superfecta paid $187.60.

Nyquist’s jockey Mario Gutierrez commented after the race “He’s been on the lead in the past but he was tougher than I expected today. I was expecting him to be easier but he was tough, he was in the bridle. I adjusted though and it worked out in the end.” 

He continued, “It was good to have an exciting finish to make the race exciting. Nyquist, he likes to fight. In his first race, we went head-to-head with a horse of Peter Miller’s. Nyquist doesn’t like anybody to pass him and that’s a good thing. He has a good mentality and I think that’s why he stays undefeated.”

Jockey Kent Desormeaux  on runner-up Swipe mentioned in hindsight, “I got head and head with the winner, and he definitely knocked me off my feet, but he also re-surged. He’s obviously undefeated for a reason. In hindsight, I wish I would have gone around. I think I would have won if I would have gone around. I think he’s a really, really good horse. You know the hype around Nyquist, and he beat me by a lip, so I think if I went around, I would have won. I’ve always been very high on him.”

NYQUIST (Uncle Mo - Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry) was bred by Summerhill Farm and sold at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton March Two Year Olds in Training auction for  $400,000 to Reddam Racing. Doug O'Neill trains the colt. Nquist has earned $513,600 in four perfect starts.

Nyquist has a precocious miler pedigree. He is by the hot new sire Uncle Mo, who was a Champion Two Year Old. The colt is the first foal produced by his dam.  She won one of seven starts. Nyquist’s dam is a half sister to SEEKING THE SKY, a graded stakes winning sprinter.  Seeking the Sky is the dam of Metropolitan Handicap winner SAHARA SKY and his half brother ANIMAL STYLE, who is a stakes winning turf sprinter. Seeking Gabrielle also a half sister to two juvenile stakes placed runners, Seeking it All (Schuylerville & Spinaway S.) and Seeking the Money (Sanford S.)

When questioned about the colt’s future plans, trainer Doug O’Neil commented, “We’ll have to huddle up with Team Reddam and figure out a game plan. This wasn’t exactly like the way we planned it. We were a little bit cocky before the race, but at the end of the day, this is what we wanted to do. We wanted to win and we wanted to see if he’d two-turn in his own back yard. It’s so much easier to do that instead of shipping. Sometimes they get a little excited and all that stuff. Now with a two-turn win under his belt against the best two-year-olds the West Coast has to offer, I think the plan will be for him to come out of it good and head back east in a few weeks, probably.”