Among the many eyes that will be glued to the television set when unbeaten Nyquist goes postward in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile will be the horse’s namesake.
“That would be pretty cool to watch,… Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist said. “I’ll watch those races for sure.…
Nyquist may not be a horse-racing aficionado but he understands enough to realize that his namesake is a stud.
“I saw it a few weeks ago when he won some big tournament,… Nyquist said of Nyquist, the undefeated two-year-colt owned by Paul Reddam.
That “tournament,… as Nyquist called it, was actually the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity, which Nyquist won going away by 3 ¼ lengths.
Nyquist has won all four of his rookie starts, banking $513,600, also showing victories in the Front Runner and Best Pal Stakes, leaving both his owner and his namesake bubbling with excitement and optimism.
“Hopefully the horse keeps running fast,… said Nyquist, a hope he shares with Reddam.
“He has run four times and won every start,… Reddam said. “The real test will come in the (Oct. 31 $2 million) Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but we’re expecting big things so hopefully we’re not wrong.…
A devout Red Wings fan, naming horses in his stable after Wings has been a popular, if not always productive passion for Reddam, who grew up across the border from Detroit in Windsor, Ont.
“Maybe about 10 years ago I had Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk,… Reddam said. “When Datsyuk and Zetterberg first came into the league I thought they were special players.
“We’ve got a couple of busts, too. Kronwall, he’s terrible. That’s the horse. I’m not talking about the hockey player. We have (two year old) Tatar who hasn’t shown much yet but he hasn’t run yet.
“There has been a lot of Wings over the years, that’s for sure.…
Mrazek is another two year old in his stable but his season came to a close recently.
“He was going to go to New York to run in a stakes race at Saratoga and coming out of the workout just before that trip he was a little off in the one ankle and there was a chip in it, so we took it out,… Reddam said.
“I would say he’s going to be off realistically until about March.…
Reddam’s passion for the Wings goes back much further than his passion for thoroughbreds.
“I watch every one of their games on the satellite,… Reddam said. “I’ve been a Wings fan since I was five. When I was that age, everybody (in Windsor) was a Leafs fan or a Canadiens fan.
“We’d go to the Olympia and Gordie Howe was my childhood hero. In 1966, when they got beat by Montreal in the (Stanley Cup) final, my dad (John) had tickets to Game 6 of that series. He took my mother and I was so upset. I said, ‘How could you be going to see the Wings in the Cup final and not take me?’ It wasn’t on TV, it was on the radio and I remember listening to it and Henri Richard scored the winning goal (in overtime). It was torture.
“After that, when expansion happened (in 1967), the Wings just kind of hit the skids. But I still maintained the loyalty.…
That loyalty paid off, but it was a long wait.
“I did come when they won the Cup in 1997,… said Reddam, who now calls California home. “I was at the game at the Joe. When they won in 1998 I was at the arena in Washington, so I am kind of a Wings nut.
“I remember when they won the Cup against Philadelphia it was just the most fantastic feeling. After all that time they’d gone to the top. It was incredible. We had a number of chances in the years before that. I went to the final in New Jersey in 1995 and that was just brutal because the Wings were big favorites. I remember the fans there chanting ‘1955’ and ‘overrated.’ It was terrible.
“The next year against Colorado, I was at the game where Claude Lemieux smashed Kris Draper’s face. I remember being there thinking these people in Colorado, they don’t even understand hockey. They just want to drink beer. It was the most miserable experience.
“Obviously I’m diehard Wings fan.…
Reddam is also a big Nyquist fan, whether he’s wearing skates or horseshoes.
“I’ve been a Nyquist fan for a couple of years,… Reddam said. “To me he’s got kind of a special talent. He’s a tremendous stickhandler.
“It’s kind of exciting to have named the horse after him and find out that the horse is a superstar.…
Nyquist the hockey player is definitely intrigued by the exploits of Nyquist the racehorse.
“It’s kind of a fun little thing,… Nyquist said.
Touts are already pointing to Nyquist as a 2016 Triple Crown threat, but Reddam, who nearly won the Triple Crown in 2012 with I’ll Have Another, isn’t ready to make that leap.
“I don’t want to boil over about the Kentucky Derby because it’s a long way off,… Reddam said. “As a two year old it’s a lot like a junior in hockey and saying he’s going to be the next superstar in the NHL.
“Sometimes that works out and sometimes it doesn’t.…
At this point, one thing’s for certain – whether it’s on the ice or at the track, people are impressed with the talents of Nyquist.
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