Derby Winner Nyquist Retired

Champion 2-year-old male and 2016 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Nyquist   has been retired and will join Darley's 2017 stallion roster at Jonabell in Lexington. The son of Uncle Mo  —Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry, will stand for $40,000.

Owned by Reddam Racing, Nyquist was voted the 2015 champion 2-year-old male following an unblemished record of five wins from as many starts. He won three grade I races at 2—the Del Mar Futurity, Frontrunner Stakes, and Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

This year Nyquist won the grade II San Vicente Stakes and the Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (gr. I) in wire-to-wire fashion before capturing the Kentucky Derby. In winning the Derby with a perfect record, he became the first juvenile champion to do so since Seattle Slew in 1977. And in winning both the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Kentucky Derby, he became only the second horse to achieve that historic grade I double, an honor he shares with future barn mate Street Sense  . Nyquist retires with eight wins from 11 starts and earnings of $5,189,200.

Nyquist had been working toward a start in the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), but got sidetracked by injury Oct. 27. Trainer Doug O'Neill reported the colt was out of the Classic due to a "puffy ankle." 

"Though Nyquist is 100% sound and X-rays are clean, the timing unfortunately precludes us from the dream of having him run in the Breeders' Cup Classic in our own backyard," O'Neill said in a statement.