Kentucky Derby 2016: Race Replay, Highlights Analysis and Prize-Money Info

Sports fans love their underdogs, but it's easy to fall in love with favorites such as Nyquist.

Horse racing echoes this sentiment every year when names like American Pharoah chase the Triple Crown. Nyquist put on another lesson Saturday by breezing through the 2016 Kentucky Derby, silencing any doubters in a major way and kicking up plenty of hype for the next two legs.

A deep field succumbed to a quick burst out of the gates by Nyquist. That changed the narrative around the sport from wondering how it could match American Pharoah's quest from a year ago to whether horse racing has another legend on its hands.

Before digging deep into the Triple Crown outlook, let's take a step back and analyze the 142nd Run for the Roses. 

2016 Kentucky Derby Results

	Horse	Post	Lengths Behind
1	Nyquist	13	--
2	Exaggerator	11	1 1/4
3	Gun Runner	5	4 1/2
4	Mohaymen	14	4 1/2
5	Suddenbreakingnews	2	4 1/2
6	Destin	9	6 3/4
7	Brody's Cause	19	9 1/4
8	Mo Tom	4	10
9	Lani	8	10 1/2
10	Mor Spirit	17	14 1/4
11	My Man Sam	6	14 1/4
12	Tom's Ready	12	16 3/4
13	Creator	3	18
14	Outwork	15	18 1/4
15	Danzing Candy	20	19 3/4
16	Trojan Nation	1	27 1/2
17	Oscar Nominated	7	33 1/4
18	Majesto	18	37 1/2
19	Whitmore	10	38
20	Shagaf	16	DNF

Purse Information

• 1st: $1,631,600
• 2nd: $400,000
• 3rd: $200,000
• 4th: $100,000
• 5th: $60,000

Race Replay and Analysis

Saturday's event told the tale of Nyquist and those around the budding superstar quite well. 

Nyquist entered the event as a winner in all seven prior outings. Said outings included four Grade 1 events and several rather casual dismissals of Derby hopefuls. He had seized the checkered flag in a variety of ways, from coming behind to leading the entire way.

Jockey Mario Gutierrez provided a dose of all of the above in the Derby, as one can see from the replay.

Nyquist shot out of the gates before going on to win by 1 ¼ lengths. Gutierrez, not wanting to get caught in traffic, produced quite the kick out of the gates before cooling off and even seeing a hard-charging Danzing Candy roar past.

Not for long. At the top of the stretch, Gutierrez kicked things back into gear to pass the fading Danzing Candy, and a strong push by Gun Runner proved short-lived.

Long story short, Gutierrez produced the best possible run for the large favorite, a horse he told ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil refuses to lose.

"He's not going to allow another horse to beat him. He always has something left," Gutierrez said. "If someone's coming late, he can win by five lengths or he can win by a nose. If anyone is coming late, I'll know he'll have something else."

It sounds like a drab affair, and the video looks routine, but Nyquist quietly put on one of the most notable shows in more than a decade, as ESPN Stats & Info helped to point out: 

It was a by-the-books finish for a by-the-books race.

Everything else played out about as expected. Exaggerator and the Desormeaux brothers finished second, while Gun Runner placed third, as both did not close fast enough to make a difference late.

Elsewhere, the underdog Destin and legendary trainer Todd Pletcher surprised with a sixth-place finish. Expected contender Mor Spirit, who is led by two of the most notable figures in the sport—trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Gary Stevens—struggled to 10th after starting out of the winless 17th post. Jockey Victor Espinoza, who rode American Pharoah to glory last year, floundered atop Whitmore right out of the gates and finished 19th ahead of Shagaf, who did not finish.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Coming out of the Kentucky Derby, there isn't any reason to avoid considering Nyquist a legitimate Triple Crown threat.

The replay shows horse and jockey at their best. It also shows a distinct lack of competition heading into May 21's Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Perhaps the biggest threats are contenders targeting the second and third legs who didn't suit up for Saturday's event.

But those are hypothetical contenders. Nyquist showed Saturday why trainer Doug O'Neill has the best horse in the sport and one yet to lose. In hindsight, the replay might go down as the biggest proof of all that American Pharoah has some company within the upper echelons of the sport's history.

Stats and information via KentuckyDerby.com, unless otherwise specified. Odds via Odd Shark.