Hey American Pharoah, here comes Nyquist

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Doug O'Neill's Saturday began with a 4 a.m. visit to Churchill Downs Barn 41 to check on his colt, Nyquist. When you're saddling the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, sleep is fleeting and nerves are jangling.

After everything checked out fine, the trainer and his crew paid a visit to the apartment of Louisville basketball equipment manager Vinny Tatum. Tatum has been a fixture at the Nyquist barn all week, serving as something of a goodwill ambassador to O'Neill, who has had Louisville coach Rick Pitino as a client in the racing business for years.

At 9 a.m. Saturday at Chez Tatum, the entourage decided it was time for the ritual pouring of the chilled tequila. Shots – deep shots – of Patron Silver were passed out. Multiple rounds.

"You need to take the edge off," O'Neill said a little sheepishly about 10 hours later, as he triumphantly walked away from the Churchill winner's circle after Nyquist rolled to Derby victory .

The ritual pouring of the chilled tequila was a tradition/superstition that dates all the way back to last Wednesday, when O'Neill ordered tequila shots at lunch with Tatum. There likely will be more ritual pouring of the chilled tequila two weeks hence, prior to the Preakness in Baltimore, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

"Vinny's coming," said O'Neill, now a two-time Derby winning trainer. "He's good luck. He's got to go."

After taking the Patron to the Preakness, you can probably book it for the Belmont as well. Because Nyquist will be very difficult to beat in Baltimore.

And so the well-worn racing storyline resumes again: talented horse looms as potential Triple Crown winner. American Pharoah altered the usual outcome last year, becoming the first horse to win all three races since 1978, proving that it's still possible. And now here is Nyquist – undefeated overlord of a generally uninspiring crop of 3-year-olds, 8-for-8, possessing both a speed and a tenacity that thus far has dwarfed the competition.

When the inevitable Triple Crown question was asked, O'Neill looked at his mom, Dixie Lee, and said, "Mom, can you light a candle at Sunday Mass? We need some higher power there to keep this guy injury-free."

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An injury would seem to be Nyquist's most likely impediment at this point.

There was nothing fluky about this outcome, in a race that has evolved from being utterly unpredictable for decades to Chalk City. Nyquist is the fourth straight favorite to win the Derby, and second choice Exaggerator's runner-up finish produced the lowest-paying Derby exacta ($30.60) since 1989. The third choice, Gun Runner, finished third. The fourth choice, Mohaymen, finished fourth.

For a field of 20 horses running 1¼ miles for the first time, it was an amazingly formful race. None of Nyquist's prime competitors encountered major racing misfortune Saturday, so there aren't a lot of excuses to be had. Suddenbreakingnews, finishing fifth and flying late, was the only one of the top finishers that had a difficult trip, according to the postrace chart.

And so the question needs to be asked: Can anyone beat Nyquist?

"I learned [how good Nyquist is] in the San Vicente in California [in February]," said Exaggerator's trainer, Keith Desormeaux. "Mohaymen learned that in the Florida Derby. He keeps teaching us lessons."

The lesson Saturday: Nyquist is good enough to be close to a very fast pace and still persevere to the finish line. It takes a talented and tough horse to do that on the first Saturday in May.

As expected, jockey Mario Gutierrez got Nyquist out of the gate alertly and had him forwardly placed. He was second to speedball Danzing Candy after one-quarter mile and stayed there at the half-mile mark, which was covered in a brisk 45.72 seconds.

In Derbies past, that is a pace that can cause the front-runners to wilt. In 2005 the half-mile also was run in 45 and change and the race fell apart, leading plodding closer Giacomo to pick up the pieces as a fluke winner.

Gutierrez, however, was not worried.

"I wasn't going to go past [Danzing Candy]," Gutierrez said. "He was going 45. I was three-quarters-lengths behind him."

Gun Runner briefly moved past Nyquist, but Nyquist never backs down from a battle. Gutierrez urged him into the lead heading into the stretch, opened up a 2½-length lead, then held on as Exaggerator closed with too little and too late.

"He's so game," said Dennis O'Neill, Doug's brother and the bloodstock agent who picks out horses for owner Paul Reddam. "He's such a game, game horse."

The same team – the O'Neills, Gutierrez and Reddam – combined to win the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with I'll Have Another. And now they do have another – another Triple Crown chance.

That bid four years ago ended with a thud the day before the Belmont, when I'll Have Another was surprisingly scratched. Things have changed since then.

Gutierrez, then a young unknown, came out of slump with the help of a sports psychologist. Doug O'Neill had his own racing highs and lows, and Saturday described a phone call in which Reddam "went a little Bobby Knight on me," a profane dressing down after one of his horses was injured. Now the group has weekly meetings to make sure they're all on the same page.

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"I'm glad I'll Have Another wasn't the favorite," O'Neill said. "Because in 2012 I don't know if I could have mentally taken that. I don't think there's enough tequila in Mexico for me to handle that in 2012 as a favorite. But this year we are a lot more mature, and the people that were surrounding Nyquist are a lot more mature. So it felt really good to be a favorite."

Increased maturity doesn't mean Team O'Neill wasn't in Derby party mode Saturday. There were the tequila shots early, and there were more party plans for later.

On that ebullient walk from the Derby winner's circle to the postrace press conference, filled with high fives and congratulations from strangers, a friend threw an arm over O'Neill's shoulder.

O'Neill asked his buddy where he was heading.

"Where you go, I'm going," his friend shot back.

"I'm going to the restroom," O'Neill joked. "And I don't know, I might be going to jail."

In between the restroom and any future date with the law, the celebration was moving to Molly Malone's, a popular local Irish bar. Whatever Doug O'Neill drank before the big race Saturday, it surely paled in comparison to what he had after winning it. This is one Kentucky Derby party that isn't ending anytime soon.