Nysos (Nyquist) followed up on his win in the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with a thrilling victory over stablemate Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) in the GII Laffit Pincay, Jr. Stakes on Santa Anita’s delayed opening-day card Sunday. Sent off the 1-5 favorite, Nysos was a little flat-footed at the break, but recovered quickly to track pacesetting Vodka Vodka (Stay Thirsty) from the rail, with Nevada Beach parked just to his outside. Vodka Vodka was pressed by Bartholdy (Mendelssohn) through a quarter in :24.00 and a half in :48.44. Bartholdy took charge entering the straight, but Nysos and Nevada Beach were making ominous progress to his outside. The two stablemates turned for home in tandem and easily put away Bartholdy before going eyeball to eyeball down the lane, with Nysos just outgutting Nevada Beach on the line.
“Nysos, he just knows where the wire is,” said winning trainer Bob Baffert. “Flavien [Prat] rode him well. I got two great rides and two good horses.”
Unbeaten in a pair of starts and tabbed a ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard’ at two, Nysos was winner of the GII Robert B. Lewis Stakes in his only sophomore start. He suffered his lone defeat to date when returning with a narrow runner-up effort behind Mindframe (Constitution) in the May 3 GI Churchill Downs Stakes. He returned to the winner’s circle with a 5 1/2-length victory in the May 31 GIII Triple Bend Stakes and added a win in the GII San Diego Handicap July 26 before just edging stablemate Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar Nov. 1.
“We’ll see how they come out of this race in regards to possibly going to Saudi [for the Feb. 14 G1 Saudi Cup],” Baffert said. “The Breeders’ Cup was a disaster for Nevada Beach. He showed today, and so did Nysos, that they were both tough customers.