LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert has trained some great horses over the years, American Pharaoh and Arrogate the first two that come to mind. But neither they nor the undefeated Justify, who won all of his six starts, including the 2018 Triple Crown, launched their careers in as sensational fashion as one of Baffert’s latest stars.
Nysos, owned by the Baoma Corporation, captured his first three outings by a combined 26 3/4 lengths before having his 3-year-old campaign come to an abrupt halt following a 7 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes in February of 2024.
Baffert finally has Nysos ready to make his much anticipated return here Saturday in the $1 million Churchill Downs Stakes. The seven-furlong fixture drew an outstanding field of 11 that also features Mindframe, runner-up in the 2024 Belmont Stakes and Haskell, and Grade 1 winner Mullikin, idle since finishing second five months earlier in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile.
Nysos ran twice at 2, winning his debut by 10 1/2 lengths going six furlongs at Santa Anita and the Grade 3 Bob Hope by 8 3/4 lengths when stretching out to seven furlongs four weeks later at Del Mar. He earned a career best 105 Beyer Speed Figure for his lopsided victory in the Robert Lewis and was being pointed for the Preakness, not the Kentucky Derby, due to Baffert’s suspension at Churchill Downs, when he was suddenly forced to the sidelines due to injury.
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“He showed he was so talented in his first three starts then we had a little setback,” Baffert recalled. “We brought him back and then he had another little setback. So we gave him more time. It just shows you how patient you have to be in this business because if you don’t wait on them, they’ll make you wait even longer.”
Baffert said Nysos couldn’t be training any better coming off the layoff. He capped off a steady series of sharp works that began at Santa Anita, breezing four furlongs in 48.80 seconds with a long and very strong gallop-out testing the Churchill Downs strip for the first time on Sunday.
“He’s really doing well but this is a tough place to come back,” Baffert said. “There just weren’t any allowance races in California that would fill. He’s not really a speed horse. He has to be ridden just right. You can’t really rush him. He doesn’t like to chase. He likes to sit and come running. I want to stretch him out off of this, but we’ll know a lot more about him after this race.”
Flavien Prat has given up his regular seat on Mullikin to retain the mount aboard Nysos on Saturday.
Like Nysos, Mindframe also opened his career with a pair of one-sided victories, winning his first two starts by a combined 21 1/4 lengths before concluding his abbreviated 3-year-old campaign finishing second to Dornoch in both the Belmont and Haskell. He finally got back to action following a 7 1/2 month hiatus on March 1, registering a very popular 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile.
“I thought he ran pretty well going a mile from the one hole,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Mindframe’s return. “He had to make a couple of different moves to secure position. I also thought he might have needed that race. It looked like he got a little tired the last 100 yards.”
Pletcher said he felt Mindframe was more than capable of handling the turnback in distance to seven furlongs in the Churchill Downs.
“We were just looking for Grade 1 opportunities, which are few and far between, and he broke his maiden at seven furlongs, so I felt it was well within his range. Although it is a super tough race,” Pletcher admitted. “What we do after this, I’m not sure. Maybe the Met Mile or Stephen Foster. We’re just hoping to get him that Grade 1 win he deserves.”
Mullikin closed out an outstanding 2024 season when second best, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Locked in the Cigar Mile. He had opened the year with four consecutive victories, including an easy 5 3/4-length triumph in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga, a streak that came to an end when third behind the eventual Eclipse Award winner Straight No Chaser in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“He looks even better than last year,” said trainer Rodolphe Brisset. “He’s been working very well. Obviously it’s a tough race, but he’s got a good post.”
Mullikin will break from the extreme outside, in post 11, under Luis Saez.
Book’em Danno, winner of the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at 3, finished a troubled fifth, four lengths behind Mullikin, when facing older horses for the first time in the Cigar Mile. He returned from a three-month freshening to win an overnight handicap going seven furlongs at Colonial Downs in his 2025 debut as a stepping-stone to this race.
Banishing and Extra Anejo also enter the race in peak form. The former won the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile and finished second in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in his last two starts; Extra Anejo exits a 1 1/2-length tally in the Grade 3 Commonwealth, also at seven furlongs, last month at Keeneland.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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