'Conversation,' Nyquist Shipping for TC Preps

Both of Reddam Racing's Southern California-based Triple Crown contenders are scheduled to head out of town for their next—and likely last—preps for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

For undefeated champion Nyquist, the big-picture plan has included shipping east for the April 2 Florida Derby (gr. I) at Gulfstream Park for a while.

"Nothing is a slam dunk, but you've got to have a direction and that's our direction," trainer Doug O'Neill said Feb. 20 at Santa Anita Park, where he watched the son of Uncle Mo   gallop for the first time since his victory in the Feb. 15 San Vicente Stakes (gr. II). "But he's doing super. He's doing great.

"You could tell by the way he came out of it, with so much energy. He had a lot of good exercises before the race, so he had a pretty good foundation going into it and the San Vicente is only going to add to that."

BALAN: Nyquist Scores in San Vicente, Still Unbeaten

For another O'Neill-Reddam prospect, Frank Conversation, plans have changed a bit.

The Quality Road   colt picked up 10 points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby standings with a score in the El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) Feb. 13 at Golden Gate Fields and has showed his aptitude for racing on synthetic surfaces, so it seemed logical his path to the Triple Crown would go through the April 2 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes (gr. III) on Turfway Park's Polytrack.

NOVAK: Frank Conversation Wins El Camino Real Derby



But an invitation from overseas came in, and Frank Conversation will now point to the $2 million UAE Derby (UAE-II) March 27 at Meydan.

"It's a huge honor to get invited and it's a big payday," O'Neill said. "We just feel fine, timing-wise, and it fits with him, too. He's got a good mind and the travel is amazing now. It's not as tough as it once was. That's not a concern at all."

Frank Conversation, out of the Unusual Heat mare Rushen Heat, has run on dirt only twice in his six-race career—an eighth-place finish in his debut at Del Mar in September and a fifth-place run in the Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I)—but his trainer is still confident he can be successful on dirt. The colt broke his maiden down the Santa Anita hillside turf course in October, came in third in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (gr. IIIT) on the Del Mar grass, and won back-to-back stakes on the Golden Gate synthetic with the El Camino Real and the California Derby.

LAMARRA: Frank Conversation Rallies to Take Cal Derby

"I think he'll run on anything. I really do," O'Neill said. "When you watch him train, nothing jumps out as a horse that would be turf or synthetic only. Being out of an Unusual Heat mare makes you think, without seeing him on the track, that he's probably on synthetic or turf, but he's more than that."

Yet another 3-year-old Reddam-O'Neill combo, Ralis, also worked Saturday morning. The Square Eddie   colt, who burst on the scene last year with a victory in the Hopeful Stakes (gr. I), worked in company on the outside with a stablemate and covered four furlongs in :50 1/5.

Outside of the O'Neill stable, lightly raced Danzing Candy breezed five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 under the watchful eye of trainer Cliff Sise Saturday in his second timed workout for his graded stakes debut in the March 12 San Felipe Stakes (gr. II).

BALAN: Danzing Candy Headed to Derby Trail

"He has been doing really good," the trainer said of the Twirling Candy   colt. Sise trained Prospect Park on the Kentucky Derby trail last year. "We're ready to try it again."