Nyquist and Mario Gutierrez: Odds, Predictions for Triple Crown and Preakness

Riding a wave of momentum down the back stretch to win the 2016 Kentucky Derby, Nyquist and jockey Mario Gutierrez will look to become the 13th horse-jockey duo to win the Triple Crown. 

American Pharoah ended the 37-year Triple Crown drought last year. Three straight wins for Nyquist would make it just the second time it's happened in back-to-back years, joining Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978). 

It will be a quick turnaround for Nyquist, who has two weeks to prepare for the Preakness Stakes. The odds right now aren't going his way, per Odds Shark:

Race	Date	Length	Will Nyquist Win Race?
Preakness Stakes	Saturday, May 21	9.5 Furlongs	N/A
Belmont Stakes	Saturday, June 11	12 Furlongs	Yes (+120), No (-170)

Things could not have gone better for Gutierrez or Nyquist, especially as they sought to prove their dominance this Triple Crown season. 

Ron Flatter of CBS Sports Radio noted the time Nyquist posted at Churchill Downs has not been seen in more than a decade:

American Pharoah, who was one of the most impressive physical specimens in horse racing, "only" ran the Kentucky Derby in 2:03.52. Nyquist easily bested that, which bodes well heading into the shorter race at Pimlico on May 21. 

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports is a believer in Nyquist's ability to capture horse racing's greatest prize:

It's harder to ignore Nyquist heading into the Preakness and Belmont Stakes when looking at his resume. He's now 8-0 in eight career races, while ESPN Stats & Info noted Gutierrez has had previous success in the Triple Crown:

In case you forgot about Gutierrez and I'll Have Another, it's one of the greatest "what if?" stories in horse racing. The duo won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2012, but an injury to I'll Have Another forced him out of the Belmont Stakes one day before the race. 

Based on Nyquist's body of work, as well as how quickly he made it around the track at Churchill Downs, it's difficult to envision a scenario in which he doesn't win the Preakness. The only thing that might stop him is weather, though that doesn't necessarily mean much because he romped through the Florida Derby on a rain-soaked track. 

Nyquist's trainer Doug O'Neill certainly thinks he has an amazing horse, telling NBC after the Kentucky Derby (via Detroit Sports 105.1) the horse would be "be the top-notch athlete" in any human sport. 

The real test for Nyquist will come at the Belmont Stakes in June. It's the most difficult Triple Crown race to win because it's the longest, by far. It also comes at the end of a long racing season.

By the time the Belmont hits, Nyquist will have run four races since February and three in a seven-week span from the Florida Derby through the Preakness Stakes. That takes a lot out of a horse, even one as athletic as Nyquist. 

The field for those races will also help determine what Nyquist's ultimate place in history ends up being. But on his own merits, there isn't a better three-year-old horse running right now. That's enough reason to expect another Triple Crown is imminent.