{"id":6573,"date":"2016-05-07T22:52:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T22:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2016\/05\/07\/nyquist-wins-the-2016-kentucky-derby\/"},"modified":"2016-05-07T22:52:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T22:52:00","slug":"nyquist-wins-the-2016-kentucky-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/nyquist-wins-the-2016-kentucky-derby\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyquist Wins The 2016 Kentucky Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colin Dwyer<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\"Nyquist,<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Nyquist, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, crosses the finish line during the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7. Rob Carr\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Rob Carr\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Nearly one year since American Pharoah made history, Nyquist has embarked on a star-making turn of his own at Churchill Downs. The thoroughbred has won the 2016 Kentucky Derby.<\/p>\n

The colt beat out 19 other competitors over the course of a hectic mile and a quarter, crossing the finish line first.<\/p>\n

But the win didn’t exactly come as a surprise. By mid-afternoon, the bay colt was pulling down 2-1 odds, cleanly earning honors as the heavy favorite. Nyquist \u2014 owned, trained and ridden by the same team that won the 2012 Kentucky Derby \u2014 approached this year’s race with the confidence of having succeeded at Churchill Downs before.<\/p>\n

“There’s a quiet confidence in the group that’s not flashy,” owner Paul Reddam told Rick Howlett of member station WFPL before the race. “But \u2014 to speak Californian for a moment \u2014 there’s a very good vibe in the barn.”<\/p>\n

Famous for his ice hockey fandom, the Ontario native named Nyquist after a player on his favorite team, forward Gustav Norquist of the Detroit Red Wings. And it’s not even the first \u2014 or the second, or the third \u2014 Red Wings player who has served as namesake for one of Reddam’s horses.<\/p>\n

But, whatever the pedigree of his on-ice predecessor, Nyquist (the horse, to be clear) has been dominant on the track in his own right. Before the Kentucky Derby, the horse had gone a perfect 7 for 7 in his early races.<\/p>\n

Now, make that 8 for 8.<\/p>\n

Of course, the conclusion to this year’s Derby Day, now in the books, also ushers us to the starting gate of another beloved, decades-old tradition: talk of a potential Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby is just the first jewel in horse racing’s highest prize; to win a Triple Crown, Nyquist must now go on to win the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, too.<\/p>\n

American Pharoah managed the feat last year \u2014 for the first time since 1978. Can Nyquist do the same? Ladies and gentlemen, let the breathless debates begin.<\/p>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/05\/07\/477171967\/nyquist-wins-the-2016-kentucky-derby?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Nyquist,<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Nyquist, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, crosses the finish line during the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7. Rob Carr\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

toggle caption<\/strong> Rob Carr\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Nearly one year since American Pharoah made history, Nyquist has embarked on a star-making turn of his own at Churchill Downs. The thoroughbred has won the 2016 Kentucky Derby.<\/p>\n

The colt beat out 19 other competitors over the course of a hectic mile and a quarter, crossing the finish line first.<\/p>\n

But the win didn’t exactly come as a surprise. By mid-afternoon, the bay colt was pulling down 2-1 odds, cleanly earning honors as the heavy favorite. Nyquist \u2014 owned, trained and ridden by the same team that won the 2012 Kentucky Derby \u2014 approached this year’s race with the confidence of having succeeded at Churchill Downs before.<\/p>\n

“There’s a quiet confidence in the group that’s not flashy,” owner Paul Reddam told Rick Howlett of member station WFPL before the race. “But \u2014 to speak Californian for a moment \u2014 there’s a very good vibe in the barn.”<\/p>\n

Famous for his ice hockey fandom, the Ontario native named Nyquist after a player on his favorite team, forward Gustav Norquist of the Detroit Red Wings. And it’s not even the first \u2014 or the second, or the third \u2014 Red Wings player who has served as namesake for one of Reddam’s horses.<\/p>\n

But, whatever the pedigree of his on-ice predecessor, Nyquist (the horse, to be clear) has been dominant on the track in his own right. Before the Kentucky Derby, the horse had gone a perfect 7 for 7 in his early races.<\/p>\n

Now, make that 8 for 8.<\/p>\n

Of course, the conclusion to this year’s Derby Day, now in the books, also ushers us to the starting gate of another beloved, decades-old tradition: talk of a potential Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby is just the first jewel in horse racing’s highest prize; to win a Triple Crown, Nyquist must now go on to win the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, too.<\/p>\n

American Pharoah managed the feat last year \u2014 for the first time since 1978. Can Nyquist do the same? Ladies and gentlemen, let the breathless debates begin.<\/p>\n

Let’s block ads!<\/a><\/strong> (Why?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}