O'Neill: Strategy So Far Has Been Successful

Trainer Doug O'Neill agreed to provide his insight to followers of "America's Best Racing" as Nyquist, his Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner, attempts to take another step toward the Triple Crown in the May 21 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico Race Course. The following is his first of two diaries as told to Tom Pedulla:

Plans in racing are made to be broken. It happens all the time. But with Nyquist, everything has gone exactly as we mapped it out after his victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile clinched 2-year-old honors.

Our team huddled soon after the Juvenile to plot our course to the Kentucky Derby. It helped immensely that we had already been down the road with I'll Have Another, the 2012 Derby and Preakness winner who never got to show what he could do with a Triple Crown on the line in the Belmont Stakes. He was scratched the day before the Belmont with a career-ending tendon injury, a painful example of how quickly plans can unravel.

Paul Reddam owned I'll Have Another and he owns Nyquist. He led the discussion after Nyquist dispelled any doubts about his quality in the Juvenile. He had the disadvantage of starting far outside in post 12 and was bumped hard at the outset. Mario Gutierrez, his rider, kept his cool. When he got the job done, we knew we had a serious horse on our hands, one more than capable of winning the Derby and—we almost were afraid to mention it—a Triple Crown.

Paul made some points that stuck with all of us. Nyquist had the foundation and seasoning he needed after a five-race campaign as a 2-year-old, a significant body of work in this age. With the Juvenile win, we did not have to worry about chasing Derby points. With the I'll Have Another experience in the back of all of our minds, we wanted to be sure to have a fresh horse for the Derby and give ourselves the best possible shot at replicating American Pharoah's Triple Crown sweep last year.

We decided to limit Nyquist to two prep races, the seven-furlong San Vicente in mid-February at Santa Anita and the Florida Derby on April 2 at Gulfstream Park. The Florida Derby was an obvious call for reasons beyond the $1 million bonus being offered for any horse purchased at the Fasig-Tipton March sale in Florida in 2015, which Nyquist was. We would have chosen the Florida Derby without the bonus because we loved the five weeks it allowed between that prep race and the Derby.

Trainers always have doubts, and I admit I wondered occasionally if we had done enough to have Nyquist as ready as could be for the Derby. We know the answer now, and the reward for the two-prep strategy is that we have a horse that bounced out of the Derby and is showing great energy for the Preakness.

I really do not have to do much with him at all to have him ready for Saturday. We plan to work with him in the starting gate on Wednesday. Then we will await the draw later that day, hoping we can be outside the speed horses in the race. That would give Mario plenty of options and, hopefully, allow Nyquist to settle into a comfortable stride until more is needed.

As well as we planned, a lucky draw would sure help.