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Derby 2016: 5 Horses to Watch in 142nd Kentucky
Derby
By beth harris, ap racing writer
Apr 30, 2016, 1:02 PM ET
The starting gate will once again be full with 20 horses
for the 142nd Kentucky
Derby.
Even though the majority of
horses have little chance of winning and over the half the field is typically
eliminated in the opening quarter-mile, owners and trainers cannot resist the
prestige of having a horse in America's
greatest race.
Most of the 3-year-olds will
be running 1¼ miles for the first time on May 7, leaving it up for grabs to see
which handles the distance, track surface and traffic-choked conditions the
best.
Trainer Doug O'Neill has the
likely wagering favorite in undefeated Nyquist.
Three trainers are expected to
have two horses each in the race. Steve Asmussen will saddle Gun Runner and
Creator, Todd Pletcher has Wood Memorial winner Outwork and Tampa Bay Derby
winner Destin, and Chad Brown has Shagaf and Blue Grass runner-up My Man Sam.
Here are five horses to watch:
EXAGGERATOR
A son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. He's trained
by Keith Desormeaux and ridden by Kent Desormeaux, the Hall of Fame jockey who
is Keith's younger brother. The colt has three wins in eight career starts and
earnings of $1 million. He has lost to Nyquist three times, including last
year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Exaggerator is a versatile sort who can press
the pace or stalk the leaders. He is coming off an impressive 6¼-length victory
in the Santa Anita Derby on a sloppy track.
GUN RUNNER
The colt topped the Derby
leaderboard with 151 points earned in prep races. He has four wins in five
career starts, including the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star this winter.
Trainer Steve Asmussen, recently elected to racing's Hall of Fame, is seeking
his first Derby
victory. He will also saddle Creator. Gun Runner has the second-highest
earnings of $1.6 million among the horses expected to make the field.
MOHAYMEN
The colt had his five-race winning streak snapped in the
Florida Derby, when he finished fourth behind Nyquist as the 4-5 favorite.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin tosses out the clunker, saying Mohaymen has had
"only two bad minutes in his entire life." The colt is one of two
(Shagaf is the other) in the race owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
the 70-year-old deputy ruler of Dubai.
The Maktoum family is 0 for 8 at the Derby.
Mohaymen's blood lines include Triple Crown winners Secretariat and Seattle
Slew.
MOR SPIRIT
Any Derby
horse trained by Bob Baffert is worth consideration. The Hall of Fame trainer
has four Derby
victories, including last year when American Pharoah began his journey to
Triple Crown glory in this race. Another Hall of Famer, Gary Stevens, will ride
the Pennsylvania-bred colt. Stevens has three Derby wins, the last coming in 1997 aboard
Silver Charm, who was trained by Baffert. Mor Spirit has never been worse than
second in seven career starts.
NYQUIST
The colt brings a 7-0 record into Churchill Downs,
bettering the marks of Seattle Slew in 1977 and Smarty Jones in 2004 when they
were 6-0 and won the race. He comes in off a five-week layoff, having last won
the Florida Derby. The colt has won from just about everywhere: on the rail,
from the far outside, leading all the way or coming from off the pace. Nyquist
is a son of Uncle Mo, who also went undefeated in his
2-year-old season. Uncle Mo was the early favorite for the 2011
Kentucky Derby, but he was scratched the day before because of illness and was
later diagnosed with a rare liver disease. The colt is named for Detroit
Red Wings player Gustav Nyquist; owner Paul Reddam is a big fan of the
hockey team. Reddam, trainer Doug O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez were the
same team behind I'll Have Another, who won the first two legs of the Triple
Crown in 2012 before being scratched on the eve of the Belmont Stakes with a
career-ending leg injury. Nyquist is the richest horse in the Derby field, having earned $3.2 million. He
was purchased for $400,000.
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