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Nyquist has been a winning investment

DOUG O'NEILL was anything but an instant success in horse racing, winning only 22 races in his first 10 years as a trainer. He began to win more in the 2000s, but one horse really changed everything.

DOUG O'NEILL was anything but an instant success in horse racing, winning only 22 races in his first 10 years as a trainer. He began to win more in the 2000s, but one horse really changed everything.

Lava Man was 35-1 in his first start on June 19, 2003. He was entered to be claimed for $12,500 at the Stockton (Calif.) Fair. There were no takers. The horse finished fourth.

In the horse's 13th race, O'Neill claimed Lava Man for $50,000. Thirty-four races later, the horse had won more than $5 million for O'Neill's owners, including an incredible 2007 with wins in the three biggest stakes for older horses in California, the Santa Anita Handicap, the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic. It was during Lava Man's run that O'Neill won three Breeders' Cup races in three years with three different horses, giving the stable added national juice.

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another came in 2012. Goldencents won the BC Dirt Mile in 2013 and 2014. Nyquist made his debut last June. In only eight races, the unbeaten 2016 Derby winner has won nearly as much ($4.95 million) as Lava Man did in those 34. If he wins Saturday's Preakness at Pimlico as expected, Nyquist, in only nine races, will surpass the combined earnings Goldencents and I'll Have Another ($5.7 million) accumulated in 25 races.

Nyquist had a wonderful 2-year-old season, but has gone into a completely different dimension this year, not only winning, but dominating.

"A lot don't jump in to good 3-year-olds, but he's displayed a lot of special qualities," O'Neill said. "As a trainer, you never like to get too cocky, because it can backfire a lot, but he just continues to show he's a super horse."

How impressive is 8-for-8 with five Grade I wins at five different tracks. The only record I can find of it ever happening was when Seattle Slew did it in 1976 and 1977, but it took until the Preakness to get that fifth track and get to 8-for-8. Of course, there was no Breeders' Cup back then for Slew.

If Nyquist somehow wins the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, that would make him 10-for-10 with seven Grade I wins at seven different tracks, a record that would likely stand forever.

Nyquist was purchased as a weanling for $180,000, resold as a yearling for $230,000 and then purchased last year by Dennis O'Neill, Doug's brother, for $400,000 as a 2-year-old on behalf of owner Paul Reddam.

So what did Dennis see?

"He saw a tremendous athlete," Doug O'Neill said. "Loved the way he moved. He vetted out perfect. It was (sire) Uncle Mo's first year. He had seen other Uncle Mo's that he thought looked special."

Doug had only one request.

"Please bring me a horse who's good in the stall," he said. "They waste a lot of energy in the stall; they generally are not going to fire. He said this horse is beautifully balanced by what I think is going to be a hot stallion. He's got an amazing stride and he knows how to turn it on and turn it off. He's not always right, but he was right here."

Was he ever. O'Neill knew pretty quickly what he had when Nyquist arrived in the barn last spring.

"Anytime you got a horse coming into the barn that they spent $400,000 for, you're like it's a first-round draft choice," O'Neill said. "Now anything can happen mentally, but from the time he walked into the shedrow, he thought he was special and then as he started working we're, like, wow, but you never know if they're going to carry that a.m. to the p.m. When he won his debut like he did (by a neck, 7 1/2 lengths) clear of the third horse . . . "

Nyquist won that first start by only inches. Two other wins last year were by less than a length. This year, nothing has been close.

Nyquist was the third straight Derby winner that trained all winter in California. He was the shortest-priced Derby favorite since Point Given (9-5) in 2001. Beating him in the Preakness obviously is possible. It just doesn't seem likely.

"I get the confidence from Nyquist,'' said his jockey, Mario Gutierrez. "I was able to work him since he got to the track, so I know him a lot and I trust him. And I believe he trusts me as well.''

Nyquist's breeding rights were sold to Darley right after the 2015 Breeders' Cup. The money was not revealed, but the Kentucky farm, clearly betting on the future, had to get a very good deal. Nyquist could have been just another accomplished 2-year-old that disappeared into the witness protection program. Instead, the farm, the fans and the colt's connections got the horse that is going to be an overwhelming favorite Saturday to be alive for the Triple Crown.

@DickJerardi