Nysos © Benoit Photo
NYSOS READY TO DROP THE HAMMER IN G2 SAN DIEGO SATURDAY
It’s hard to say a horse with Nysos resume is flying under the radar but he has yet to crack the NTRA’s Top Ten Thoroughbred Poll despite winning four of his first five races by a combined 32 ¼ lengths. He broke his maiden by 10 ½ lengths, then took the 2023 G3 Bob Hope at Del Mar by 8 ¾ lengths and then clicked in his 3-year-old debut, the G3 Robert Lewis, by 7 ½ lengths.
But then came the physical ailments that cost him the rest of his 3-year-old campaign and led to a lengthy 15-month layoff. He returned to the races on the first Saturday in May, due in part by the timing of those setbacks.
“Being we were going to miss all the good stuff we just gave him some extra time off,” trainer Bob Baffert notes. “It (the Churchill Downs Stakes) was a good starting point so he would be ready for down here and for the fall for the Breeders’ Cup. We just timed it out so he’d be a fresh horse.”
The stunning bay colt by Nyquist will not be overlooked in Saturday’s G2 San Diego where he’s the odds-on morning line favorite. The mile and a sixteenth San Diego is the local prep for the G1 Pacific Classic on August 30. He comes into the race off of a 5 ½ length victory in the G3 Triple Bend at Santa Anita at the end of May.
“I’ve been happy with him, he’s trained well down here,” Baffert says. “I don’t think the two turns will be a problem. We’re just taking it race-by-race and see how he does.”
Nysos suffered the one blemish on his resume in his return to the races in May. He missed by a neck in the G1 Churchill Downs Stakes to Mindframe, the horse that is ranked first on the NTRA poll.
Nysos is set to face six other rivals in the G2 San Diego, including stablemate Mirahmadi, named after the popular race caller. He’s coming off of a 4 ¼ length victory in a second-level allowance at Santa Anita last month. His last two ventures into graded stakes company were not quite as impressive, a 25 ¼ length loss in the G1 Santa Anita Handicap in March and a 19 ¼ length defeat in the G3 Native Diver last fall at Del Mar. But he did run second to Prince of Monaco in the 2023 G1 Del Mar Futurity.
Hall of Fame is the out-of-town invader in the race. The 4-year-old son of Gun Runner won three straight early this year, including the G3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds. He’s gone up against a couple of brutes in his past two races, Fierceness in the G2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day and 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the G3 Blame at Churchill.
“We’ve had him for about five weeks now,” trainer Michael McCarthy says. “A very professional horse, a very straight forward horse. Obviously, a nice resume already. I think he was bought with the intentions of possibly running in the (Breeders’ Cup) Dirt Mile here at Del Mar. So the San Diego is nice place to get him started.”
Also entered in the San Diego is the G2 Gold Cup runner-up and last year’s G3 Cougar II winner Midnight Mammoth from the Craig Dollase barn.
Express Train is looking to add to his sizable payroll, which is already over $1.4 million. The veteran 8-year old ran second in his last two races, the G2 San Pasqual at Santa Anita in January and the G1 Santa Anita Handicap five weeks later.
The 84th running of the G2 San Diego is Race 8 on the 11-race Saturday card. Probable post time is 5:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Midnight Mammoth (Armando Ayuso, 12-1); Nysos (Flavien Prat, 3/5); Mirahmadi (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Express Train (Mike Smith, 5-1); Hall of Fame (Kazushi Kimura, 6-1); Tarantino (Edwin Maldonado, 20-1), and Judge Miller (Antonio Fresu, 8-1).
FIRST GRADE I OF THE DEL MAR SUMMER SEASON A WIDE-OPEN AFFAIR
For the first time in three years, a horse with a name other than The Chosen Vron will win the G1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar Saturday. We know this because The Chosen Vron, back-to-back winner of Del Mar’s premier sprint race the past two years, has been retired, leaving a void nine aspiring horses are ready to fill.
Last year’s G2 San Diego winner Dr. Venkman has returned to sprinting this year and comes into the Bing Crosby off a near miss in the G3 Kelly’s Landing at Churchill Downs last month.
“I thought he was pretty unfortunate,” trainer Mark Glatt says. “You can always make excuses for why a horse gets beat but I really felt the rail draw and the trip that he got cost him. He could never get off of the inside and he’s a horse that doesn’t particularly like running on the inside. If he had a different post or could have gotten out, I think he would have won the race.”
That was a 6 ½ furlong race and his 2025 debut, a second to Nysos in the G3 Triple Bend was a 7-furlong sprint.
“I think he’s a better one turn horse,” Glatt adds. “I don’t know if six furlongs is his greatest distance but a one-turn elongated sprint is probably his best gig.”
He’s facing some serious speed, starting with Hejazi who returned from a 17-month layoff and ran a game second in a second-level allowance last month.
“He was off for a long time,” trainer Bob Baffert concedes. “He actually ran a really big race off the layoff. It’s asking a lot to jump into a Grade one but he has some past class. I think he fits in with them.”
Hejazi is one of several horses in Baffert’s barn with a high price tag. The son of Bernardini sold for $3.5 million at Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic 2-year olds in training sale in May of 2022 to Amr Zedan of Zedan Racing Stables.
“He worked really well (at the sale),” Baffert remembers. “He was a standout.”
Hejazi has shown flashes of brilliance, running second to stablemate Speed Boat Beach in the 2023 G1 Malibu. And while he’s run in the money in 8-of-his-10 starts, he’s only made it to the winner’s circle twice.
As usual, the Bing Crosby has a couple of out-of-town entries. Crazy Mason, the winner of the G2 Carter at Aqueduct ships in from New York. There’s also World Record, who brings his front running speed from Kentucky where he just missed in the G3 Aristides at Churchill Downs last time out.
Roll On Big Joe, based in Southern California for much of 2024, spent the spring in Kentucky where he won the G3 Kelly’s Landing last out.
“It was exciting,” trainer Bob Hess recalls. “I loved the fact that they gained, basically caught up to him and then he held them all off. He’s got a lot of heart.”
The big gray son of Prospective has won four of his last five races including the G3 Palos Verdes at Santa Anita this past February. Hess says he’s coming into this race better than ever.
“We worked him once at Keeneland and then flew him into here,” Hess notes. “He had a perfect workout here. Clean scope, legs are ice cold and he’s got to be enjoying this weather better than the humidity back there.”
The 80th running of the G1 Bing Crosby, a ‘Win and You’re In’ for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is Race 10 on the 11-race program. Probable post is 6:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Crazy Mason (Christopher Elliott, 6-1); Dr. Venkman (Antonio Fresu, 4-1); Hejazi (Juan Hernandez, 7/2); Smooth Cruisein (Kyle Frey, 20-1); World Record (Flavien Prat, 3-1); Roll On Big Joe (Julien Leparoux, 6-1); Mbagnick (Armando Ayuso, 5-1); Spirit of Makena (Abel Cedillo, 20-1), and Lovesick Blues (Geovanni Franco, 20-1).
SPEED RULES IN 23RD RUNNING OF THE DAISYCUTTER TURF SPRINT
In between the two graded stakes races Saturday at Del Mar is the $100,000 Daisycutter, a five-furlong turf sprint.
It will feature a two-time winner at Del Mar in Pushiness, a 4-year old filly by Kantharos. She won the $150,000 Fleet Treat last year, a 7-furlong sprint on the dirt. As a 2-year old she captured the $125,000 CTBA Stakes, a 5 ½ furlong sprint on the dirt.
But this spring, trainer Michael McCarthy decided to take another shot with her on the turf and she ran second, down the hillside turf course turf course at Santa Anita, in the $100,000 Irish O’Brien the day before St. Patrick’s Day.
“She’s pretty adaptable to any surface,” McCarthy says. “She just gives her all every time she’s out there. It’s five-eighths on the turf, she’s naturally fast, so we’ll go ahead and bounce on out of there and see how we go.”
With her regular rider Umberto Rispoli switching over to McCarthy’s other horse in the race, Spicybug, Pushiness will get Juan Hernandez, who rode her to her maiden win back in June of 2023.
As with any sprint on the turf there’s plenty of speed for Pushiness to contend with early and late.
Uncorked, from the Philip D’Amato barn, is a speedball who has been knocking heads with graded stakes company of late. She ran in eight consecutive grade stakes and not without some success. She won the G3 Royal Heroine in her first race for D’Amato in April of 2024. She ran second in the G2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar last summer and second in the G3 Goldikova at Del Mar in the fall.
Then last time out D’Amato cut Uncorked back to one turn and dropped her down into the $100,000 Mizdirection.
“I think it was more of just cutting her back in distance,” D’Amato says of the Australia-bred’s second-place finish. “I always wanted to try it but I never had a chance because the two-turn races and the way they were coming up. I thought she ran well and now we’ve been specifically training her to sprint and hopefully that helps the cause going into the Daisycutter.”
Chismosa is also entered in the race. She’s a hard-knocking Cal-bred who has fared quite well in open company in the past. She won the 2024 G3 Las Flores, ran second in the 2024 G2 Santa Monica and was runner-up to Sweet Azteca in last year’s G3 Rancho Bernardo, albeit a distant second.
The daughter of Clubhouse Ride has won six races in her career, but none on the turf and this will be her first time on the Jimmy Durante turf course.
The Daisycutter is Race 9 on the 11-race Saturday program. Probable post time is 6 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Visually (Armando Ayuso, 20-1); Imaboutago (Mirco Demuro, 6-1); Lovin’ On the Run (Antonio Fresu, 20-1); Ang N Ash (Mike Smith, 20-1); Schilflied (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Uncorked (Flavien Prat, 3-1); Spicybug (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1); Chismosa (Kyle Frey, 6-1); Granny Budgie (Geovanni Franco, 8-1), and Pushiness (Juan Hernandez, 5/2).
RICH HANDICAPPING CONTEST OFF AND RUNNING SATURDAY
A new betting challenge has landed into handicappers’ laps at Del Mar this weekend. The buy-in was $6,000 with $2,000 of it helping to make up the prize pool. The remainder gets loaded into players’ wagering account cards to spend “live” and lively throughout the expeditious two-day competition.
Approximately 130 big bettors are expected to come on board at Del Mar from all across the country. With a likely total of $250,000+ in prizes, the contest is headquartered primarily on the track roof in the Star Fiddle and Native Diver sky rooms, though contestants can use any SAM machine throughout the facility.
Challenge participants are expected to wager more than $1,000,000 during the weekend. Last year, Bob Traynor of nearby Oceanside was the big winner, taking home $27,985 in bets and $107,000 in prizes for a total of $134,985.
PAIR OF HANDICAPPING SEMINARS ON TAP THIS WEEKEND
Racing fans can sit in on a pair of free handicapping seminars this weekend in the Plaza de Mexico. Each day the seminars start at 1:05 p.m. and run for about 30 to 40 minutes.
The seminars feature guest experts with solid opinions on the afternoons’ races. On Saturday, host Frank Scatoni will feature podcast host and horseplayer Jackson Muniz. Sunday will see host Dan Smith working with Daily Racing Form writer/reporter/handicapper Steve Andersen.
COOLING OUT: Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer won the first race of the new week, taking Thursday’s opener with Current Affair. It was the veteran conditioner’s first win at Del Mar since September 1, 2022…Jockey Ruben Silvera won his first race ever at Del Mar Thursday when he guided Regal Patriot to a win in Race 4. Silvera is a veteran rider who most recently was riding the NYRA circuit before coming out to Del Mar to give Southern California a try…One of the most highly anticipated debuts of 2025 will take place Saturday in Race 4. Brant, a 2-year-old colt by Gun Runner, was recently purchased by Amr Zedan for his Zedan Racing Stables for $3 million at the Ocala Breeders Sales March Sale for 2-year-olds in training…Notable works for Friday: Dirt – Tamara (3f, :36.00); Kopion (6f, 1:12.00); Richi (6f, 1:13.00) and Seismic Beauty (7f, 1:24.20). 147 horses put in official works at Del Mar Friday morning.