Nysos and Citizen Bull stage epic Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) battle

After going 0-for-11 previously in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), a pair of Bob Baffert stablemates put on a show for the ages in Saturday’s renewal at Del Mar, with Nysos barely nosing out Citizen Bull by the slimmest of margins.

Citizen Bull, a confirmed front-runner, went to the lead as expected and set incredibly fast fractions of :21.74 and :44.96, with Nysos about four lengths back in fifth. Nysos moved into second with three furlongs to run as Citizen Bull was set down for the drive. Nysos came along side his stablemate with a furlong to go, and despite the lightning-quick early pace, Citizen Bull would not relent and lost by a head bob.

The final time was 1:34.71 on a fast track.

“It should have been a dead heat!” said Baffert. “I knew I was going to win. Citizen Bull caught another gear and Nysos–he hadn’t run in a while–he dug in and it was just unbelievable. We work so hard and there are so many ups and downs and you just want to be able to cheer for them coming down the stretch. That Citizen Bull, he looked like a champion that he was last year.

“Nysos is a great horse. It was actually his first Grade I win; a lot of people thought he was a superstar. They were on their bellies and they ran…what a race. It’s a shame that one of them had to lose.”

Nysos, who is owned by the Baoma Corp., has been very highly-regarded since prior to his debut win in October of 2023. His previous stakes wins came in the San Diego H. (G2), Triple Bend S. (G3), Robert B. Lewis S. (G3) and Bob Hope S. (G3). The 4-year-old is now 6-1-0 in seven starts and has earned $1,118,500.