O'Neill Moves Up Nyquist's Workout
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Photo: Benoit Photography
Nyquist wins the San Vicente Stakes.
Trainer Doug O'Neill moved up Nyquist's workout—his first since a victory in the Feb. 15 San Vicente Stakes (gr. II)—to March 3 anticipating and hopefully avoiding a pair of storms expected to hit Southern California in the upcoming weeks.
Originally scheduled to breeze March 5, Reddam Racing's undefeated Uncle Mo colt covered four furlongs in :48 4/5 Thursday at Santa Anita Park, and the adjustment was less about rain this weekend (the forecast should be clear Saturday morning) than it was about rain the following week.
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"Seeing the rain coming, we wanted to get a couple days ahead of it and line up next week properly," O'Neill said. "We just don't want to work on a sealed track and it gave us some wiggle room. We'd much rather have too many (works) than miss a work."
As far as the work went Thursday, O'Neill was pleased with the champion 2-year-old male of 2015's first drill in preparation for the April 2 Florida Derby (gr. I) at Gulfstream Park.
"He looked great," the trainer said. "He had a nice gallop into it and galloped out great."
O'Neill said he'd be flexible with Nyquist's future training as well, depending on how the weather turns out and how it fits into the schedule for shipping the colt east.
"There's no set dates for his next works," O'Neill said. "You have to think about when he has to get on the plane, and running out of town, you have to consider things like that and be willing to adjust."