Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist’s return to track delayed at Keeneland

Champion and current Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist did not go back to the track at Keeneland as originally planned Thursday after he was found to have a slightly elevated white blood cell count.

Jack Sisterson, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill, said the decision to keep Nyquist in the barn for another day or two was mostly precautionary.

“He’s doing great and everything. There is no temperature. We took his blood and his white count was just slightly elevated,” Sisterton said from their Keeneland barn Thursday morning. “With the five weeks (leading into the Kentucky Derby), why rush him back especially with the forecast of rain coming in. Why take the risk of actually getting sick? So we’ll give him a few extra days. But he’s happy as can be this morning. He’s dragging us around the shedrow.”

Sisterson said Nyquist would probably return to the track Friday or Saturday but added “the way his energy is, I would say Friday.” An elevated white blood count can be an indicator of infection but can also be brought on by the stress of shipping.

Nyquist arrived at Keeneland from Florida on Sunday after his 3 1/4-length victory in the Grade I Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park last Saturday, his seventh win in as many career starts.

“The shipping can affect that,” Sisterson said of the elevated white blood count. “We have a standard routine of taking the blood and you know, if it wasn’t the standard routine, we wouldn’t have taken the blood because physically and mentally how he was acting, there was no reason to do it. But that’s Doug’s routine, just staying on top of things. If he were to leave some feed or had a temperature, that would make us take the blood. But he never showed any signs of that. We’re all happy with him. He hasn’t missed a beat.”

Owned by Reddam Racing, Nyquist won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last Oct. 31 to cap a 5-for-5 season that saw him earn the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old male. He opened his sophomore season with a win in the Grade II San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park on Feb. 15 before handing Shadwell Stable’s Mohaymen his first career loss when the two met in the Florida Derby.

Nyquist earned a $1 million bonus in the Florida Derby as a result of being a graduate of the 2015 Fasig-Tipton March Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He has career earnings of $3,322,600.

“We’re just doing what is right for him and letting him have a few more days,” Sisterson said. “But he’s kind of a handful now walking him. He wants to do more.”

Cavorting to scratch from Grade I Madison

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin confirmed Thursday he intends to scratch Grade I winner Cavorting out of Saturday’s Grade I, $300,000 Madison Stakes at Keeneland and reroute the daughter of Bernardini to the Grade III Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct April 17.

Cavorting has not run since finishing third in the Grade I La Brea at Santa Anita Park last Dec. 26 and drew the No. 1 post in a brutal field of 13 for the Madison featuring Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Wavell Avenue.

“Everything is great with her but look at that field. It’s the toughest race I’ve seen,” McLaughlin said. “And she drew the one hole.”

McLaughlin still has two others in the race in stakes winner Clothes Fall Off and Grade II winner Dancing House.

College Scholarship Day

Friday’s opening day at Keeneland is College Scholarship Day.

Admission is free with a college ID. Full-time students can register to win one of 10 $1,000 scholarships and prizes from local vendors awarded after each of the day’s races.

A $10,000 Runhappy Scholarship will be awarded to one full-time college student after the eighth-race post parade. The first 2,000 students to register will receive a Keeneland College Scholarship Day T-shirt courtesy of Kennedy’s Wildcat Den or a Southern Proper hat.

The program, sponsored by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, began in October 2002 at tracks across the commonwealth and has distributed more than $526,000 over the life of the program.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 8:15 AM with the headline "Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist’s return to track delayed at Keeneland."