Nyquist to miss Breeders' Cup Classic with 'puffy ankle'

ARCADIA, Calif. – Nyquist, the 2016 Kentucky Derby winner and champion 2-year-old male of 2015, came out of his workout on Thursday with a "puffy ankle," trainer Doug O'Neill said, and is out of the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Santa Anita.

"He jogs sound and the X-rays are clean," O'Neill said Saturday morning. "But with the timing, he can't make the Classic. We're bummed and sad."

Nyquist was scheduled to be retired after the Classic and go to stud at Darley in Kentucky.

Nyquist won last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile during a campaign in which he won all five of his starts and was named the champion 2-year-old male. He won his first two starts this year, the San Vicente and Florida Derby, before winning the Kentucky Derby.

Since then, he was third in the Preakness, fourth in the Haskell, and sixth most recently in the Pennsylvania Derby.

He worked seven furlongs on Thursday in 1:27.60.

A son of Uncle Mo, Nyquist was purchased for $400,000 as a 2-year-old in training by Paul and Zillah Reddam through Dennis O'Neill, Doug's brother and an adviser to the Reddams. Darley acquired his breeding rights a year ago.