Reddams will seek repeat of Slow Down Andy breeding story
CYPRESS, Calif. - Sometime in the coming weeks, the broodmare Edwina E will be sent from Paul and Zillah Reddam’s Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsall, Calif., to Kentucky.
The purpose will be an attempt to repeat a developing story.
Edwina E will be bred to Nyquist in early 2022, Paul Reddam said. Edwina E’s current 2-year-old, the Nyquist colt Slow Down Andy, won his graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity.
The Reddams raced Nyquist, who won the 2016 Kentucky Derby and is now a stallion at Darley Stud. The Reddams retain 10 lifetime stallion shares to Nyquist, whose second crop to race are 2-year-olds this year.
While in foal to Nyquist, Edwina E, 9, was sent from Kentucky to California prior to foaling Slow Down Andy in March 2019. The mare, winless in two starts in 2015, was bred to I’ll Have Another in 2019 and Pavel in 2020, Reddam-owned stallions based at Ocean Breeze. Edwina E was not bred earlier this year, according to Dennis O’Neill, racing manager for the Reddams.
I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Kentucky Derby for the Reddams.
Slow Down Andy’s win in the $300,000 Los Alamitos Futurity puts the colt firmly on the list of West Coast contenders for the Triple Crown races.
“This is good for the stallion,” Paul Reddam said of Slow Down Andy’s win.
Nyquist stands for an advertised fee of $55,000.
Slow Down Andy, trained by Doug O’Neill, has won 2 of 3 starts and has earned $249,850. Mario Gutierrez, who has a close association with the Reddams in the last decade, has been aboard for all three wins.
Slow Down Andy won his debut in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs for California-breds at Santa Anita by 4 3/4 lengths on Oct. 9.
In his stakes debut in the Golden State Juvenile at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 5, Slow Down Andy finished second by a half-length as the 11-10 favorite. Slow Down Andy took the lead in early stretch, but could not sustain his advantage, losing by a half-length to Finneus.
“That was pilot error, to be honest, and he took the blame for it,” Paul Reddam said of Gutierrez.
In the Los Alamitos Futurity, Slow Down Andy closed from last in a field of five to lead in the stretch. Slow Down Andy was passed by 1-2 favorite Messier for a few strides, and retook the lead to win by a length at 5-1. Slow Down Andy ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.33, and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 85.
“Down the stretch, it looked like we had it and it looked like we didn’t,” Doug O’Neill said.
“This horse has a lot of different gears. This horse is more mentally versatile than Nyquist was at this stage.”
I’ll Have Another and Nyquist had different two-race preparations for their Kentucky Derby wins.
I’ll Have Another won the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at 43-1 at Santa Anita in February 2012 and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles two months later in his final prep race for the Triple Crown.
Nyquist won the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita in mid-February 2016 and his final prep in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park in early April.
Doug O’Neill was noncommittal about plans for Slow Down Andy on Sunday.
“We will nominate to a bunch of different spots,” he said.
Early 2022 races such as the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 6, or the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 5, are likely to be considered.
“He came out of it in great shape,” Doug O’Neill said Sunday afternoon. “The horse should continue to improve.”
Slow Down Andy was nominated for Sunday’s $100,000 King Glorious Stakes for statebreds at Los Alamitos until Paul Reddam insisted the colt start in the more prestigious Los Alamitos Futurity. Slow Down Andy was supplemented to the Los Alamitos Futurity for $7,500.
Sometimes, the boss knows best.