NYSOS - G2 Laffit Pincay Jr - Benoit Photo
Grade I-winning stablemates Nysos and Nevada Beach put on a show for the opening day crowd at Santa Anita Park Sunday in the Grade II, $200,000 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Following a thrilling stretch duel, Nysos edged Nevada Beach by a head on the wire to prevail as the heavy 1-5 favorite. The top two finishers are both trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert
With Flavien Prat aboard, Nysos broke from the inside post and saved ground along the rail while tracking pacesetters Vodka Vodka (10-1) and Bartholdy (23-1). Both Nysos and Nevada Beach (9-2) circled around the two pacesetters heading into the stretch and raced side-by-side all the way to the finish. For Nysos, it was his second-straight photo finish win over a stablemate. In last month’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, Nysos also won by a head over Citizen Bull
Bartholdy, ridden by Tyler Baze for trainer Steve Knapp, was another 4 ¼ lengths back in third with Vodka Vodka—ridden by Kent Desormeaux for trainer Aggie Ordonez—completing the superfect
Nysos won in a time of 1:42.36 following fractions of 24.00, 48.44, 1:12.26 and 1:36.43. Owned by Baoma Corp., Nysos is a 4-year-old colt by Nyquist who sold for $550,000 at the 2023 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. He improved to 8: 7-1-0 with $1,238,500 in earnings. Also listed on the owner’s line for Nysos as lessee’s are Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor of the international Coolmore operation
Nysos paid $2.40, $2.10 and $2.10. Nevada Beach, ridden by Juan Hernandez, returned $2.60 and $2.10. Bartholdy paid $3.20 to show.
GRADE II, $200,000 LAFFIT PINCAY JR. STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
FLAVIEN PRAT, NYSOS, WINNER: “He broke a bit flat-footed, but then I was able to sit and he was traveling well. I was a bit worried that the pace was slow but as soon as he got a seam he made a really good move and Nevada Beach hooked up with us. It was a very game effort.”
JUAN HERNANDEZ, NEVADA BEACH , SECOND: “My horse ran really great. We were in front and then we went back and forth with Nysos. Sometimes he has a tendency to get lazy, but he was a different horse today. He wanted to run today.”
BOB BAFFERT, NYSOS, WINNER: “Flavien knows this horse really well. They weren’t going that fast early, so I was hoping he found a seam. You could tell he had a lot of horse. My other horse (Nevada Beach) was in a good spot. They turned for home and it looked like he was just going to go on and Nevada Beach, he loves this track. He just took off after him. They are either really good friends they want to be together or battle it out. It just shows you these horses are so competitive the way they were battling.
“Nysos, he just knows where the wire is. Flavien rode him well. I got two great rides and two good horses.”
“We’ll see how they come out of this race in regards to possibly going to Saudi. The Breeders Cup’ was a disaster for Nevada Beach He showed today and so did Nysos that they were both tough customers.
“This is really great to see the place packed here. Everyone was on the apron and they got to see quite a race. Nevada showed he is competitive and Nysos knows how to find the wire. Nysos is a cool customer. I told Flavien to ride him like a 10-1 shot in the paddock. With a small field, he got bottled up in there on the first turn.”
NOTES: The winning owner is Baoma Corp. Lessee’s are Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor.
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