Nicanor had an excuse for his 10th-place finish in his career debut Jan. 31 at Gulfstream Park in Florida. The full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented By Yum! Brands (gr.I) winner Barbaro hurt himself leaving the starting gate, but the injury wasn't believed to be serious by his connections.
“He (Nicanor) is better than that,” said his jockey, Edgar Prado. “I’ve worked him in the mornings, and he showed me a lot. He broke really fast and unfortunately grabbed his left quarter. We’ll just have to see how long it takes to heal, but I know he’s better than that.”
After suffering the injury, Nicanor “wasn’t comfortable, so Edgar just wrapped up on him,” said the colt’s trainer, Michael Matz.
Nicanor stumbled at the start and was bumped. He was eighth after the first quarter mile, but by the half-mile point had improved his position to fifth. He faded after that (VIDEO).
A 30-1 longshot, Warrior’s Reward, captured the one-mile maiden-special-weight event by a length over 19-1 Allrightsreserved while 44-1 Single Malt was third. The winning time was 1:39.69. Dubinsky, the 6-5 favorite, finished fourth. Nicanor, at 5-2, was the second betting choice in the field of a dozen 3-year-olds.
A homebred son of Dynaformerout of the grade III-winning Carson City mare La Ville Rouge, Nicanor races for Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables.