Nyquist performed a smash and grab raid on the East Coast by downing Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Mohaymen in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on Saturday night.
Doug O’Neill’s unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner had flown in from Southern California and led from start to finish to bring to a halt Mohaymen’s flawless five-race career.
Nyquist, who powered clear of outsider Majesto, picked up US$600,000 (Dh2.2m) of the $1 million purse and banked a $1m bonus as a graduate of the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale.
Mohaymen, who started favourite in the field of 10, never handled the rain-affected dirt surface under Junior Alvarado and could finish only fourth behind Fellowship, another outsider.
“I didn’t really have much excuse,” Alvarado said. “I was where I wanted to be the whole race and he didn’t fire this time. That’s all I really can tell you. There’s nothing wrong with him.”
More horse racing news:
Jonathan Raymond: California Chrome left foolish notions of his shortcomings in the dust at Dubai World Cup
Video: Victor Espinoza and Art Sherman reflect on Dubai World Cup win
Geoffrey Riddle: After the world came together for 2016 Dubai World Cup, what is next for the winners?
Nyquist broke beautifully from gate four and Mario Gutierrez assumed the lead with ease on the first turn, while Alvarado was five horses wide aboard Mohaymen from Stall 9.
Gutierrez did not set slow fractions, either, and was harried by Sawyers Micky and Scott Spieth on the inside for much of the back stretch.
Mohaymen made a move on the far turn to draw up alongside Nyquist at the top of the stretch, but from there Nyquist simply shrugged off the challenge and powered to his seventh consecutive victory by three and a quarter lengths.
“I had reservations a month or so ago, Mohaymen in his own backyard, do we really want to do something like that?,” O’Neill said. “We all very quickly got on the same page, and I think we just had a very lucky trip.
“Mario broke great and did a great job riding and everything just went right. This whole trip other than being delayed one day, everything else went right. So many things can go wrong in this business.
“Obviously we’re high as a kite right now. But he seems like you could run him on just about anything.”
Nyquist trained on synthetics for the Florida Derby and will continue to do so as O’Neill readies his bay son of Uncle Mo to step from 1,800 metres to the 2,000 metres of the Kentucky Derby on May 7.
Nyquist, who is named after Gustav Nyquist, the Swedish ice hockey player who plies his trade for the Detroit Red Wings, was due to ship to Keeneland on Sunday.
Only one of the 31 juvenile champions in America has prevailed in the Kentucky Derby, with Street Sense creating history in 2007.
Along with owner Paul Reddam, O’Neill and Gutierrez teamed up to win the Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another in 2012, and the colt went on to win the Preakness Stakes before he was scratched on the eve of the Belmont Stakes with a career-ending injury.
“I feel really good” about Kentucky, O’Neill said. “We drew up thinking two preps before the Derby would leave him with fresh legs. He’s got a lot of miles underneath him in the morning and we have a fresh horse for the afternoon.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport