Kentucky Derby 2016: Results, Winner, Payouts and Comments After 142nd Race

All week long, trainer Doug O'Neill told anyone who would listen that Nyquist was a special horse. On Saturday, he proved himself to be just that.

A 2-1 favorite, according to Odds Shark, Nyquist fended off a late push from Exaggerator to bring home the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby. The three-year-old colt won with a time of 2:01.31, nearly two full seconds ahead of American Pharoah's time from 2015. He won by 1 ¼ lengths, with third-place Gun Runner sitting 4 ½ lengths back. Gun Runner was part of a photo finish with Mohaymen and Suddenbreakingnews.

"You just felt there was no way you could be nervous because you just felt like you were going in the gym with Kobe Bryant," O'Neill said, per ESPN.com. "You just knew he was going to figure out a way to pull it out at the end, and he did. Mario gets a lot of credit, too. What a ride, what a ride."

The race went off almost completely without a hitch for Nyquist, who is now undefeated in eight career starts. He got off to a strong start out of the gate before settling near the front of the pack in the early going. Danzing Candy paced the field early on, and Nyquist spent the first six furlongs jostling back and forth between second and third place.

Jockey Mario Gutierrez kicked Nyquist back into high gear in the final turn, moving ahead of Danzing Candy and then Gun Runner as he was entering the straight stretch. Gutierrez appeared to have clear sailing ahead until Exaggerator broke out of the pack to make a last-ditch effort at stealing the Derby. Luckily, Nyquist had enough left in the tank on an otherwise scorching run.

"This is such a special horse," O'Neill said. "You can see it in his eye on a daily basis, and he's such a professional. Any human sport, he'd be the top-notch athlete. He's just first-class."

Exaggerator, meanwhile, dropped to 0-4 in races head-to-head with Nyquist. The Santa Anita Derby winner was undone by a shaky start, as he got stuck in the middle of the pack before breaking free down the stretch. Traffic troubles left Exaggerator's camp wondering if he would have wound up in the winner's circle had things gone smoother.

"I had trouble," Keith Desormeaux said, per Jeff Greer and Steve Jones of the Courier-Journal. "I had to hair-brake him at the three-and-a-half—really slam on the brakes. It was definitely a difference of two lengths."

Place	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

Horse	Win Payout	Place Payout	Show Payout
Win	Nyquist	$6.60	$4.80
Place	Exaggerator	-	$5.40
Show	Gun Runner	-	-

As it stands, Nyquist's victory will go down in the record books. His time is the fastest since Funny Cide shocked the world in 2003. He's also the eighth undefeated Derby winner in history and the first since Big Brown in 2008.

Six of the last seven undefeated Derby winners failed in their quest to complete the Triple Crown. The lone exception is Secretariat, the exception to just about every rule in horse racing history.

"Congratulations to Nyquist, he's still undefeated," Mohaymen trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said, per Beth Harris of the Associated Press. "He's a star. I don't know about the Triple Crown, but we'll have a great year."

Good thing is we won't have to wait long to find out. The Preakness Stakes is in two short weeks, the smallest window between races in Nyquist's career. Most of his career, Nyquist has had breaks of around two months between races; he'll now look to win three in a five-week span.

On Saturday, he looked ready to make a Triple Crown happen. We'll have to see how he holds up.