Nyquist, Still Undefeated In 8 Starts, Easily Wins The Kentucky Derby

The favorite Nyquist ran a smooth, fast race in a dampened Kentucky Derby, breaking on the outside and holding off Exaggerator down the stretch to win in 2 minutes, 1 second and change. He’s the clean horse in the photo there, sailing along and blasting crudlets of mud over the rest of the field, remnants of a cloudburst earlier on Saturday.

He paid $6.60 to win. His jockey, Mario Gutierrez, is now two-for-two in Derbys, having won aboard I’ll Have Another four years ago.

It’s horse racing, so this won’t seem terribly interesting until Nyquist presumably takes a run at the Preakness on May 21. But in eight races no one has beaten Nyquist, and while Exaggerator made this one fun in the last quarter-mile or so, this Derby was never really in doubt.

People say this every year, that we could be seeing the start of a Triple Crown winner, but go ahead and keep an eye on Nyquist. The first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, American Pharoah, had a great 2016 and is now the coolest motherfucker in Kentucky. He could have company soon.