Trainer Doug O’Neill was at Barn 41, at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky, shortly after 5 a.m. on Sunday to give a check on his Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and the readout was a good one.

“He’s doing great,” O’Neill said. “He had his head out over the webbing, looking bright eyed. He ate it all up last night. Couldn’t be doing better. He’s just such a special horse.”

O’Neill had the horse jogged down the shedrow for a just-in-case look, but that turned out fine, too. By 6 o’clock the Uncle Mo colt had been walked, bathed, and put back into his stall.

The trainer was joined his brother Dennis and Tom Knust, the jockey agent for winning rider Mario Gutierrez