Saturday Sires: Nyquist

Unless you've been under a rock recently, you are well aware Darley's Nyquist has been the buzz horse the last few weeks. It's for good reason.

Just two Grade I races for 2-year-old fillies on dirt have been contested in North America so far this year, the Aug. 31 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga and the Sept. 7 Del Mar Debutante Stakes in California. Daughters of Nyquist–Immersive and Tenma–won both.

Logically, success on the track should beget success in the sales ring. No where was that more evident than at the first few days of Keeneland's September sale last week, where Nyquist had not only his first career million-dollar yearling, but followed it up with another pair. Three millionaires in one sale is heady territory, indeed. Only Curlin, Gun Runner, and Into Mischief–all mainstays at that level–had more last week.

“It's been gratifying to see, but it's been an amazing ride for sure,” said Darley's Darren Fox. “For us, he's the future. There's no two ways about it.”

The leading freshman sire of 2020, the same year he got his first two 2-year-old Grade I winners, Nyquist has been among the top two spots in his sire crop ever since. He's held his own amongst all active sires as well, with an Eclipse champion, a Sovereign champion, a Breeders' Cup winner, 15 graded winners, and 26 black-type winners thus far. In 2024 alone, he's tied with Gun Runner for the top spot among all North American sires by number of Grade I winners for the current year. In addition to juvenile fillies Immersive and Tenma, he also has GI Ogden Phipps Stakes winner Randomized and GI Shoemaker Mile Stakes winner Johannes this year. For those keeping track, that's winners at the top level from ages two to four, seven to nine furlongs, on both dirt and turf, just in 2024.

Click to see Nyquist at Darley

Fox said the bay, a member of the first crop of stellar sire Uncle Mo, had his best book to date produce the 2-year-olds of this year. They were conceived following his breakout year as a freshman sire.

“Nyquist is somewhat of a unicorn in terms of his demand,” said Fox. “In years two, three, and four, the market almost got stronger on him. It's very rare for a stallion to hold that performance every year. We've never sold a season for less than that original fee [$40,000]. His book for what are now 2-year-olds had 14 Grade I winners, 31 graded stakes winners, and 72 black-type fillies or mares in a book of 160. He had a lot of quality and we've had faith in him and certainly had high expectations. It's exciting to see that starting to play out.”

In addition to breeders, Darley has supported Nyquist as well, with about 8-10 mares from the home band each year, said Fox. The aforementioned Immersive is a Godolphin homebred, as is 'TDN Rising Star' Knightsbridge. The latter is an undefeated 3-year-old, who won each of his two starts by open daylight and is back in training with Hall of Famer Bill Mott after turnout to recover from what was reported as bone bruising. Fox said the team is extremely optimistic about his future. There's also the anticipation of what other delights might be awaiting among the other juveniles, not to mention the younger crops.

“It goes without saying Nyquist certainly represents the future lynchpin of our stallion roster,” said Fox. “He's been so good to us and we're certainly hugely excited as we have high hopes for him going forward. He's made an amazing start for us thus far.

“He is a horse that has always experienced extraordinary demand. He's the bull's-eye in that there's nothing we have to compensate for or add to with him, so he fits a wide range of physicals.”

Like his own sire, Nyquist was an undefeated Breeders' Cup winner at two and was named 2-year-old champion. But unlike his sire, who had to contend with a serious liver disease that kept him out of the Classics, Nyquist marched through the next spring unbeaten and went on to win the GI Kentucky Derby.

“A champion 2-year-old stays undefeated through the Derby; the last time a horse did that, it was Seattle Slew in 1977! Nyquist's race record set incredible milestones. His sire line is an outcross and physically he fits a large pool of mares. He stamps them, gets nice horses that keep improving. They're rarely the finished articles–they're always improving and developing. They continue to race on.

“He hits that sweet spot: they're precocious and yet they train on at three.”

Immersive wins the first Grade I race of 2024 for 2-year-old fillies | Sarah Andrew

Darley secured the breeding rights to Nyquist at the end of his juvenile season. Bred in Kentucky by Summerhill Farm, the now-11-year-old was picked up by Dennis O'Neill at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Florida March 2-year-olds in training sale for $400,000. Reddam Racing LLC campaigned him throughout his entire career with trainer Doug O'Neill. Fox said Darley now owns the horse outright.

“He's a horse that works great with our broodmare band and he fits a large cross section of the mare population. We probably could have filled [his book] twice over this year at $85,000, and now he's hit a new stratosphere.”

Jonabell Farm, home of the Darley stallions in America, has long held court among the upper echelon of top stallion farms in the U.S. and has masterfully incorporated generations of sire lines. Fox pointed to the legacy of the farm's brilliant Street Cry (Ire), a son of Machiavellian, who stood at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud near Newmarket. Street Cry plied his trade primarily in America and now Street Sense, his Derby-winning son, is currently in the Darley stallion barn, as are two of his sons, Maxfield and Speaker's Corner. It's not often four sire generations stand for the same organization.

“There's a lot of pride and satisfaction about cultivating sire lines. We hope Nyquist continues that, mirrors what Street Cry has done,” said Fox. “Putting a son of Nyquist's in our stallion barn would be the dream. The sire line has shown how potent it is, how good it is with American racing. We're very keen to have some colt who hits the mark to come back home and take up duties.”