Four years ago, trainer Doug O’Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez came within a race of winning the Triple Crown with I’ll Have Another. A day before he was to run in the Belmont Stakes for his opportunity to make history, I’ll Have Another was withdrawn from the race with a tendon injury.
Preakness 2016: Date, time, location and more
Nyquist has a chance to match American Pharoah’s Triple Crown, but first he’ll have to win at Pimlico on May 21.
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With Kentucky Derby winning colt Nyquist, O’Neill and Gutierrez might have a second chance. He’ll first need to win the 2016 Preakness Stakes, scheduled for May 21 at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore. The race is scheduled for a post time of 6:45 p.m. and can be viewed on NBC. NBC Sports Live Extra will be your source for streaming.
The story line in past years was always the same. It’s been X years since our last Triple Crown winner. Can it finally be done? Last year, that changed when American Pharoah, trained by Bob Baffert, ended the 37-year drought.
That shouldn’t stop anyone from getting excited at the possibility this year. In fact, Nyquist, named after Detroit Red Wings player Gustav Nyquist by owner Paul Reddam, has a chance to do something Pharoah couldn’t: be an undefeated Triple Crown winner. Nyquist is now 8-for-8 to start his career. Pharoah lost his first race before winning the next eight.
It’s too early to know who’ll be in the Preakness field. Once you get beyond Nyquist, it’s hard to predict. Owners and trainers sometimes choose to skip the Preakness entirely to give their horses a longer break, with five weeks between the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont. That can result in a weaker field and make Triple Crown bids occur more frequently, but make it a little more difficult at Belmont, too.
All we can say for sure is that O’Neill and Gutierrez have a good horse to work with and will be the favorite two weeks from now in Baltimore.
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