The Stanley Cup will be at Churchill Downs on Saturday.
Gustav Nyquist will not.
Lord Stanley’s mug is slated to pay a visit to the stall of 3-1 Kentucky Derby favourite Nyquist on the morning of the race and even owner Paul Reddam, the avid Detroit Red Wings fan who named his star horse after the Red Wings right-winger, couldn’t resist a playful jab at the circumstances of it all.
“Well, that’s the closest that either Nyquist is going to get to it this year,… Reddam said.
The skating Nyquist, who’s never played beyond the second round of the playoffs, won’t be anywhere near the Cup. He’s in Russia, skating for Sweden in the world championship. In fact, Nyquist scored the overtime winner for the Swedes Friday in their 2-1 tournament-opening victory over Latvia.
Reddam extended an invitation to Nyquist to join him in his owner’s suite on Derby day.
“I texted him and said, ‘Hey, there’s a couple of Derby seats with your name on them if you’d like,’… Reddam said. “He said he would have loved to have gone, except that he was going to play in the world championship for Sweden.…
When the four-legged Nyquist – unbeaten in seven starts and an earner of $3.3 million – first rose to prominence, the hockey-playing Nyquist seemed bemused, albeit somewhat disinterested in all the commotion over his namesake.
“I’ve just never been kind of introduced to it,… Nyquist said of horse racing. “When I grew up it was more other sports. None of my friends were really into it. None of my family was into it, so I didn’t really end up going. But it’s quite a big sport in Sweden.…
As Nyquist won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall and continued to dominate into his three-year-old campaign, Nyquist’s fascination with it all began to perk up.
“It’s great that he’s doing well,… Gustav said of Nyquist. “He runs fast and he wins races. That’s a good thing for a horse.
“It’s fun, seeing that he’s going to be the favourite here for Kentucky, so I’m hoping he’s going to run a good race and wins it.…
It’s been a tough time for Nyquist on the ice. He plummeted from 27 to 17 goals and scored just once in the final 17 games of Detroit’s season.
In a sense, Nyquist the horse has probably deflected some of the attention away from the struggles of Nyquist the hockey player.
“He didn’t have a very good second half of the year so I would assume that anyone who would have been talking to him about horse racing would have been bugging him,… Reddam said. “I didn’t try to contact him until last week. But I didn’t really realize – I guess a lot of people have been talking to him about the horse, versus his goal scoring.
“It’s interesting to hear that Nyquist is finding the story more interesting, because I had thought seeing him interviewed on TV that he was more or less a little embarrassed that there was this horse named after him and he didn’t know jack about horse racing.
“I don’t really think that he understands the magnitude of the Kentucky Derby. If he would have been able to go and been in the crowd of 150,000 and they’re all yelling one or another about the horse that’s named after you, I think that might have been something.…
Nyquist wasn’t about to debate that thought.
“That’s probably right,… Nyquist said. “If it would be the one time I went, this would be a good one.…
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer