Under better circumstances, the test that Nysos faces in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Saturday would have checked off his to-do list long ago.

In February 2024, the Bob Baffert-trained colt was the top-ranked 3-year-old in the country , having won his first three races by nearly 27 combined lengths at distances from 6 furlongs to 1 mile. Nysos was gearing up for Grade I competition in the 1⅛-mile Santa Anita Derby and then, presumably, the 1 3/16-mile Preakness and 1¼-mile Belmont Stakes. (He wouldn’t have run in the Kentucky Derby because of Churchill Downs’ ban, since lifted, on Baffert’s horses.) But a physical issue sidelined Nysos in March 2024, and then in April, and eventually for 15 months before his return to action with two wins in three starts this spring and summer.

On

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