Nyquist Named Champion 2-Year-Old Male

Speed, stamina, class, and gameness were the hallmarks in an unbeaten season for J. Paul Reddam's Nyquist, a three-time grade I winner who was the overwhelming choice for the 2015 Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old male.



The colt from the first crop of Uncle Mo   showed flashes of brilliance throughout his five-start campaign for trainer Doug O'Neill. In his first four starts he was never more than 1 1⁄2 lengths back at any call, then capped the year with an undeniable determination in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) by kicking from farther off the pace than he had ever previously been.



Nyquist impressed his connections in his debut at Santa Anita Park three months after his $400,000 purchase by O'Neill's brother, Dennis, at the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of 2-year-olds in training. Leading from the start while strongly pressed, he was headed in the stretch but gamely fought back to win a five-furlong maiden special weight race by a head June 5.



He was immediately stepped up to graded stakes company and captured the 6 1⁄2-furlong Best Pal Stakes (gr. II) Aug. 8, followed by the seven-furlong Del Mar Futurity (gr. I) Sept. 7 before making his first start around two-turns Sept. 26 in the 1 1⁄16-mile FrontRunner Stakes (gr. I).



"From day one, before this horse ever debuted, he had the mind and the stride of a two-turn horse," Doug O'Neill said of Nyquist, who heads into 2016 as the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).



After the Breeders' Cup Reddam said Nyquist seemed extraordinary from the very beginning.



"Dennis, and (agent) Jamie McCalmont also, loved the colt," Reddam said. "You could hear the excitement in their voices that he was going to be something. And we really kind of got verification of that in his first start, when he just refused to lose."



Nyquist, bred in Kentucky by Summerhill Farm from the Forestry mare Seeking Gabrielle, worked six furlongs Jan.10 in 1:14 as he prepares for his 3-year-old debut in the Feb. 15 San Vicente Stakes (gr. II).

Voting totals in the 2-year-old male division: Nyquist, 255; Mohaymen, 3; Voter Abstentions, 3.