Florida Derby Winner Nyquist Pre-Entered in $6 Million Classic

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Shade Tree Thoroughbreds’ undefeated Three Rules was among 12.pre-entries announced Wednesday for the $2 Million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), leading a contingent of Gulfstream Park stakes winners scheduled to participate on the $26.5 million World Championships at Santa Anita Nov. 4 and 5.

Trained at Gulfstream by Jose Pinchin, Three Rules has won his first five races by 31 lengths, including a 10-length romp in the $500,000 In Reality Oct. 1 to pull off a sweep of the 2016 Florida Sire Stakes Series.

Awesome Feather captured the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) after sweeping the 2010 Florida Sire Stakes series for fillies, while Big Drama swept the 2008 Florida Sire Stakes series and went on to capture the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1). Both FSS alumni were honored with Eclipse Awards following their victories in the World Championships.

Three Rules, who is scheduled to ship to Santa Anita next Monday, tops the Juvenile earners list with $680,640 in a pre-entry field that includes Grade 1 stakes winners Classic Empire (Breeders’ Futurity), Gormley (FrontRunner), Klimt (Del Mar Futurity) and Practical Joke (Hopeful, Champagne), as well as Good Samaritan, Lookin at Lee, Not This Time, Star Empire, Syndergaard, Term of Art and Theory.

Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) Nyquist is among 14 horses pre-entered in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), the centerpiece of the two-day, 11-race World Championships. The Doug O’Neill-trained 3-year-old, who captured the April 2 Florida Derby by 3 ½ lengths before extending his undefeated streak by winning the Kentucky Derby, will attempt to break a three-race losing streak at Santa Anita, where he has won all three of his races.

Nyquist is scheduled to clash with 2013 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, who is undefeated in 2016 and ranks as the No. 1 all-time North American earner with $13.4 million in winnings. Arrogate, the impressive Travers (G1) winner; Found, the Irish filly who captured the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) last year at Keeneland; Effinex, the runner-up to American Pharoah in last year’s Classic; and Woodward (G1) winner Shaman’s Ghost are among the most prominent pre-entrants in the Classic.

Other Gulfstream alumni expected to compete in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup: Photo Call, who captured the Orchid (G3) on the Florida Derby undercard, is pre-entered in the Mile (G1), with a second-preference in the Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Catch a Glimpse, who is pre-entered in the Filly & Mare Turf, began her 2016 campaign with a victory in the Herecomesthebride (G3). Paola Queen, who captured the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2), and Spelling Again, who won the ‘Win & You’re In’ Princess Rooney (G2) July 2, are pre-entered for the Filly & Mare Turf. Celestine, who won the Sand Springs and Honey Fox (G2) during the Championship Meet, is pre-entered in the Turf Sprint (G1), as is Lady Shipman, who captured the Ladies Turf Sprint in February. Delta Bluesman, who captured the ‘Win & You’re In’ Smile Sprint (G2), is pre-entered in the Sprint (G1).