May 23, 2016 
Plans to ship Nyquist to Belmont Park on Monday have been put on hold as the Kentucky Derby champ spiked a mild fever. As first reported by DRF, Nyquist had a temperature of 102 when checked early Monday morning. He will remain at Pimlico until the situation in remedied.
Team O’Neill confirmed they will await results from blood tests and see how the colt progresses over the next day or two before making any further decisions on the next move.
Nyquist had a 102 temperature this morning and will not ship to Belmont today. O'Neill said he still hopes horse can make Belmont Stakes
— David Grening (@DRFGrening) May 23, 2016
While a temperature of 102 can be considered a ‘mild spike’, it’s a setback and certainly casts some doubt whether Nyquist will make the trip to New York to tackle Exaggerator and the boys in the Belmont Stakes on June 11. With the significant physical demands and tight turnaround times on the Triple Crown trail, even the slightest of setbacks can alter the course.
In April, Nyquist missed a couple days of training after shipping from Florida to Kentucky when he was foun to have a slightly elevated white blood count. Hopefully he’ll be able to bounce back in similar fashion this week.
It’s been a rough 48 hours for Nyquist. Get well soon, bigguy.
