Nyquist Another Big Score for Dennis O'Neill

When an auctioneer at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton March 2-year-olds in training sale at Gulfstream Park dropped the hammer on Hip 87 at $400,000, Dennis O’Neill was pleasantly surprised he was high bidder on the colt from the first crop of Uncle Mo  .

“Honestly when the bidding started I didn’t think we had any chance to get him,” O’Neill said of the colt named Nyquist, who won an Eclipse Award as outstanding 2-year-old male of 2015 for Reddam Racing and is now favored to win the May 7 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). “Generally I know who is bidding and what their MO is. We usually don’t spend $600-800,000 and I told Paul (Reddam) he was going to cost $800,000 to $1 million.

“When the bidding stopped at $400,000 we were all kind of dumbfounded at what has just happened. He (the auctioneer) pointed at me and hit the hammer. It was surreal.”

Trained by O’Neill’s brother, Doug, Nyquist is putting his seven-race undefeated career on the line when he faces as many as 19 other 3-year-olds in the Derby. The colt has earned $3,322,600, including a $1 million bonus as a result of having been sold at the Fasig-Tipton sale and then going on to win this year’s Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (gr. I). The bonus scheme from Fasig-Tipton and The Stronach Group that operates Gulfstream has been renewed for any graduate of this year’s March sale that win’s the 2016 Florida Derby.

The Fasig-Tipton sale was the third for Nyquist, who was bred by Tim Hyde Jr.’s Summerhill Farm and has made a profit for everyone involved along the way. The colt was produced from the winning Forestry mare Seeking Gabrielle, who had been bought by Blanford Bloodstock from the James B. Keogh consignment for $45,000 at the 2011 Keeneland horses of all ages sale.

At the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, Nyquist and his dam were both sold, with the colt bringing $180,000 from Madison Farm and Seeking Gabrielle going to Hinkle Farms for $100,000. Pinhooked by Dromoland into the following year’s Keeneland September yearling sale, Nyquist was purchased by Sutton Place Farm for $230,000.

Consigned to the Fasig-Tipton sale at Gulfstream by Niall Brennan Stable, Nyquist received a lot of attention from the major players during the under tack show workouts and in the days leading up to the sale.

“I really, really liked the (pre-sale) work and he was what I usually look for at a sale and can’t afford,” O’Neill said. “He was real athletic and had a great mind.”

Informed by Brennan that Nyquist indeed was a nice individual, O’Neill gave the colt the intensive scrutiny he gives to horses he is most interested in.

“If I’m going to bid on them I check on them a lot,” O’Neill said. “I’m real good about checking them out throughout the day to see how they are in the stall. I had them take him out six to eight times and I went by his stall two or three times a day for three or four days. It just seemed like he was so classy. Every time they took him out he put his head down and walked, anything they wanted him to do.”

According to trainer O’Neill, that demeanor is one of the qualities that sets Nyquist apart from other horses and has carried him this far.

Nyquist was not the first major find by Dennis O'Neill for Reddam and his brother. They partnered to win the 2012 Derby and Preakness Stakes (gr. I) with I'll Have Another  , bought by Dennis O’Neill for $35,000 from the Eisaman Sales consignment to the 2011 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s April sale of 2-year-olds in training.

At last month’s OBS sale, Dennis O'Neill bought a Candy Ride ridgling from Brennan on behalf of Reddam for $875,000, with Team O’Neill hoping it takes them to the 2017 Derby.

"He's the spitting image of Nyquist," O'Neill said of the recent acquisition. "He’s an absolutely, fabulous gorgeous horse. We’re getting addicted to this Kentucky Derby Trail and this is the one we thought would get us there next year. I have a type and I hate to use the cliché that he’s athletic, but he’s just a lean, athletic horse. He is such a classy, classy animal."