O'Neill says Nyquist will not compete in Pacific Classic
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Trainer Doug O’Neill said Graduation Stakes winner Green With Eddie, Milton Freewater (3rd) and Sizzlin Square (5th) all came out of Wednesday’s $100,000 stakes in good shape.
The $150,000 I’m Smokin Stakes on September 2 is a possibility for any of the three California breds, O’Neill said. Green With Eddie’s win, the third straight in the Graduation for the connections of owner J. Paul Reddam, O’Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez, would make him a prime candidate for the $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Futurity on September 5, closing day of the meeting.
Nyquist won the Futurity for the same connections in 2015 and went on to win the Kentucky Derby. Nyquist is resting here following a fourth-place finish on Sunday in the $1 million Haskell Invitational prior to resuming training for a to-be-determined next start.
That start won’t be the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic here on August 20.
“He won’t make it,” O’Neill said. “It would have been nice to have a horse in the signature race here but, unfortunately …”
Source: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
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