DEL MAR, Calif. – When the field for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile turned into the stretch, trainer Bob Baffert said he knew one thing for certain: He was going to win the race. Who he was going to win with, however, couldn’t be answered until the final strides, when Nysos stuck his head in front of a game Citizen Bull to earn his first Grade 1 victory while giving Baffert a record-tying 21st Breeders’ Cup win.
“It was great to tie the record, but more importantly, both horses put on a show coming down the stretch,” said Baffert. “As a trainer, all you can ask is for your horses to show up on the big day and they both did. I knew I was going to win as they came down the stretch. It was so exciting to watch. You just hate to see someone get beat. I was so proud of both horses and I would have been fine to see a dead heat and have both horses share it.”
Baffert’s original plan was to run Nysos, who came into the race just a neck shy of perfection in six lifetime starts, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But he had to alter those plans and reroute his star to the Dirt Mile after missing the Pacific Classic due to a bruised hind foot.
Citizen Bull, who gave Baffert one of those 21 Breeders’ Cup wins when capturing the Juvenile last year, had been a bit of a disappointment this season. He finished a distant 15th in the Kentucky Derby before finally bouncing back here in late August with a 5 1/2-ength tally in the one-mile Shared Belief.
Citizen Bull was hustled to command from the outset, setting blistering early fractions of 21.74 seconds for the quarter-mile and 44.96 for the opening half while prompted from the outset by Touch of Destiny. Nysos rated about four lengths off the leader under regular rider Flavien Prat while saving ground down the backstretch and around the second bend.
Nysos angled out to go after his stablemate leaving the turn, inching ever closer through midstretch. Citizen Bull dug down gamely at that point, refusing to relinquish his narrowing advantage before Nysos ultimately won the head bob at the wire. It was another 3 1/2 lengths back to Chancer McPatrick, who rallied down the center of the course to be third without ever menacing the top pair.
Tumbarumba finished fourth, followed by last year’s Dirt Mile winner, Full Serrano. Rounding out the order of finish were Goal Oriented, Will Take It, and Touch of Destiny, who was eased to the wire.
White Abarrio was scratched by the regulatory veterinarians just minutes before post time after “observing left front lameness while warming up,” according to veterinarian Dr. Scott Hay. The regulatory vets also scratched Mystik Dan earlier in the day.
Nysos is owned by the Baoma Corporation of Charles and Susan Chu. A 4-year-old son of Nyquist, he completed the distance in 1:34.71 over a fast track and paid $3.40. Nysos earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Charlie and Susan. They’ve been very patient,” said Baffert. “I told them we’d have to miss the Classic, but we’ll go for the Mile. So we gave him the time. You saw the way he ran today. He would have been very competitive in the Classic. He would have been right there, but it wouldn’t have been fair to the horse to just throw him in like that.
"I think today was a very important race for him. It was his first Grade 1 and the first time he ever really had to get down on his belly. Everyone knows he’s a superstar. He’s been a superstar from the beginning.”
Baffert said Prat asked him before the race if Citizen Bull was going to the lead and was told that was the plan. When he came back to the winner’s circle, Baffert said Prat commented, “You told me he was going to the lead. You didn’t tell me he was going to keep going.”
“He [Citizen Bull] didn’t do a whole lot when he first came back this year, but I knew he was coming up to a big race,” Baffert said. “I saw those fractions, but he didn’t look like he was going that fast and he was doing it the right way. And when he turned for home, he still had a lot left. I’m just glad that he really showed up. He was champion last year. He just got beat by a tremendous horse.”
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