DEL MAR, Calif. – Last year, a horse whose connections were intending to run in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic instead detoured to the $1 million Dirt Mile and won the race.
When Full Serrano goes for a repeat in the Dirt Mile on Saturday at Del Mar, he will be facing a horse whose connections are found in similar circumstances.
Nysos, after winning the San Diego Stakes here in July was going to run in the Pacific Classic and then the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But a bruised hind foot forced Nysos to scratch from the Pacific Classic and trainer Bob Baffert didn’t have time to get him right for the Goodwood at Santa Anita, a race that could have had led him to the Classic.
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Instead, Nysos is the 6-5 morning-line favorite in a Dirt Mile that features three Breeders’ Cup winners and a Kentucky Derby winner.
Nysos is so talented and versatile, Baffert says, that he would have fit in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at six furlongs.
“He’s a superstar,” Baffert said. “He could’ve won the Sprint. He’s good.”
Nysos was good enough to come off a 15-month layoff and come within a neck of Mindframe in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on Derby Day. That is his only loss in six career starts.
Nysos is one of three horses Baffert has in the Dirt Mile. Citizen Bull, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, won the Grade 3 Robert Lewis – a race Nysos won in 2024 – to kick off his 3-year-old campaign. Ultimately, he finished 15th in the Kentucky Derby.
Citizen Bull got a break following a fourth-place finish in the Grade1 Woody Stephens at Saratoga. He came off the layoff to win the Shared Belief Stakes against just two other rivals.
“It was good to get him back into winning form,” Baffert said. “He likes [Del Mar]. He couldn’t be doing better than he is right now.”
Baffert also sends out Goal Oriented, a 3-year-old who made the Preakness his third career start, finishing fourth, and the Haskell his fourth, finishing third. Baffert thought Goal Oriented was a winner turning for home in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, but he didn’t see out the nine furlongs.
“I thought he was going to open up, but he runs that way, he’ll just go there and sort of simmers there at the end,” Baffert said. “I thought maybe shortening him up might be the thing to do.”
Full Serrano had only two races in the United States in 2024 before he won the Dirt Mile. Following a second-place finish in the Pacific Classic, he was going to run in the Goodwood until a fever took him out of consideration for that race.
In the Dirt Mile, Full Serrano was up close to a strong pace but was a much-the-best winner over Post Time.
Trainer John Sadler again was considering Full Serrano for the BC Classic until he was beaten by Nevada Beach in the Grade 1 Goodwood. That loss and the depth of the Classic field led Sadler to point to the Dirt Mile, a field he acknowledges is tougher than a year ago.
“I think it’s a tougher race this year and you don’t want get sucked in just because it went perfect last year,” Sadler said. “It is not going to be the same, nothing’s ever the same.”
Full Serrano will be reunited with Joel Rosario, who was aboard for the Dirt Mile a year ago but not since. Full Serrano figures to be a forward factor again breaking from post 6.
“He has the speed to get a position, that never really changes,” Sadler said. “We will see how much speed is in there.”
Mystik Dan, the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, also has positional speed. His love for Churchill Downs – he has recorded four of his five career victories there – may move people off him for the Dirt Mile.
If Mystik Dan, under Francisco Arrieta, can transfer his Churchill form to Del Mar and get the inside trip he seems to relish, he could be a factor.
“Loved his turn of foot, he’s so useful in that regard,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “When that hole opens he can spurt right through it. That’s his biggest asset as a racehorse, cut it quick when a hole opens.”
Chancer McPatrick, a two-time Grade 1 winner at 2, showed he could win around two turns when he captured the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga in July. Still, that field is not this one and he will have to step up his game to be competitive. Chad Brown, his trainer, believes Chancer McPatrick has stepped up his game, at least in the morning.
“It’s a tough race, he’s going to need a good pace setup in that race. It’s a quick mile at Del Mar but I love the way he’s coming into it,” Brown said. “The biggest positive about him is I’ve never seen him look better physically. He’s carrying the most weight he’s ever carried, his coat is shining, and he’s very happy right now.”
White Abarrio, the 2023 Classic winner, is shortening up after finishing fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. In that race, White Abarrio was bumped into Mindframe and for a moment White Abarrio’s jockey Edgard Zayas lost his irons and Mindframe’s rider, Irad Ortiz Jr. was, ever so briefly, on part of White Abarrio.
“More than anything when you get bumped that hard it takes a toll,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Mindframe’s big; we bumped him and turned Mindframe sideways. You almost have to forgive him that race. He’s actually come back and trained well since.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. rides White Abarrio from the outside in this 10-horse field.
Touch of Destiny, a 3-year old son of Midshipman, went 6 for 6 in his native Uruguay. He is now with Michael McCarthy and has been breezing regularly in Southern California since early September.
“He’s had a nice series of breezes and a maintenance mile work,” McCarthy said. “He’s going to face his best group of horses to date. We’ll see how Uruguay’s best stacks up to America’s best.”
Tumbarumba, trained by Brian Lynch, finished fourth in last year’s Dirt Mile at 33-1 and comes into this year’s race off wins in the Cowboy Jones Stakes at Ellis Park and the Grade 3 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs.
Will Take It, trained by Dallas Stewart, won the Hanshin Stakes going a one-turn mile in June at Churchill. Most recently, he was sixth in the Ack Ack.
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