Nyquist in the company of a Prince

1:51 PM ET

On Saturday, rain or shine, Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist will try to do what only one horse in history has done before. And what a horse that was.

Majestic Prince was a golden chestnut with a pair of hind stockings and a 77-inch girth. The one thing had nothing to do with the other, except for the fact that each of his many elements worked in perfect concert with the rest, resulting in a colt of singular power and presence.

“One rarely sees such an enormous colt with quite Majestic Prince’s finish,” praised Charles Hatton, the era’s recognized authority on such things.

Majestic Prince put those attributes to good use, winning all three starts at age 2 and then his first six starts at 3, topped by the 95th Kentucky Derby on May 3, 1969, and the 94th Preakness Stakes two weeks later.

Nyquist flipped those numbers with five wins last year at age 2 and three wins so far at 3, most recently his convincing victory in the 142nd Kentucky Derby on May 7. If Nyquist is to match Majestic Prince — going 9 for 9 through the first two legs of the Triple Crown — he must handle Derby runner-up Exaggerator and nine others Saturday in the 141st running of the Preakness at Pimlico.

Nyquist is already breathing rare air. From here, it gets thinner still. Only Seattle Slew, who made the Belmont Stakes his ninth win without a loss, remained unbeaten through a Triple Crown.

Native Dancer, the paternal grandsire of Majestic Prince, was 11 for 11 going into the 1953 Derby and lost the only race of his life to Dark Star. Barbaro was trying to go 7 for 7 when he broke down in the Preakness. Big Brown was 5 for 5 when he flopped in the Belmont, while Smarty Jones was 8 for 8 when his Triple Crown dream died in New York.

Then again, some of the greatest never even got that far unbeaten. Man o’ War sustained the only loss of his 21-race career as a 2-year-old in 1919 when he was shocked by Upset at Saratoga. He skipped the 1920 Kentucky Derby because owner Sam Riddle thought 1-1/4 miles in early May was too much too soon for a young horse and instead made his 3-year-old debut in the Preakness, which he won by 1-1/2 lengths. Upset was second.

Editor’s …

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