Coming off a rousing maiden win to close out his 2-year-old campaign, Better Than Gold will tackle unbeaten sensation Nysos and two other Bob Baffert trainees in Saturday’s $200,000 Robert B. Lewis (G3) at Santa Anita Park.
Better Than Gold, a dark bay son of Nyquist, had a somewhat dolorous start to his career in October. Sent off at 22-1 in a six-furlong maiden at Santa Anita, the Gary Mandella trainee got off slowly, climbed after being soundly bumped and finished eighth, 15 ½ lengths behind the aforementioned Nysos.
Stretching out to a more suitable mile six weeks later at Del Mar, and with Hall of Famer Mike Smith aboard, Better Than Gold “inhaled foes” as he rallied from last to edge next-out winners Imagination and Tapalo.
Smith returns aboard Better Than Gold, listed at 6-1 from post 3.
Nysos, the namesake of an old Seilen demi-god of Greek mythology, will try to give Baffert his record 12th victory, and sixth in a row, in the Bob Lewis. Unbeaten by a combined 19 ¼ lengths in two starts, most recently an 8 ¾-length score in the 7-furlong Bob Hope (G3) on Nov. 19 at Del Mar, Nysos is the 4-5 favorite in the field of nine for the Bob Lewis.
Flavien Prat has the return call on Nysos, the only graded stakes winner in the field, from post 6.
Nysos’ Hall of Fame trainer also will saddle Coach Prime (5-1), a $1.7 million yearling purchase who was third as the beaten favorite in December’s Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), and Wine Me Up (6-1), second in the American Pharoah (G1) in October but was unplaced in two subsequent graded stakes starts.
Stronghold, making his second start around two turns, and Scatify, a maiden winner, are both listed at 6-1, with 20-1 longshots Mc Vay, Moonlit Sonata, and Ace of Clubs rounding out the field.
The Bob Lewis continues California’s “Road to the Kentucky Derby,” which goes on to include the San Felipe (G2) on March 2 and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 6.
The winner will receive 20 points on the Derby leaderboard, unless it happens to be one of Baffert’s charges, who are ineligible to earn points or run in the Derby. Churchill Downs has continued its suspension of Baffert stemming from the disqualification of Medina Spirit in 2021.
The picks: 1 Better Than Gold 2 Nysos 3 Coach Prime
The field for the $200,000 Robert B. Lewis, from the rail out, with jockey, trainer, odds:
1 Wine Me Up (Juan Hernandez, Bob Baffert), 6-1
2 Ace of Clubs (Edwin Maldonado, Doug O’Neill), 20-1
3 Better Than Gold (Mike Smith, Gary Mandella), 6-1
4 Moonlit Sonata (Geovanni Franco, Tim Yakteen), 20-1
5 Coach Prime (Frankie Dettori, Bob Baffert), 5-1
6 Nysos (Flavien Prat, Bob Baffert), 4-5
7 Stronghold (Antonio Fresu, Phil D’Amato), 6-1
8 Mc Vay (Umberto Rispoli, John Shirreffs), 20-1
9 Scatify (Hector Berrios, John Sadler), 6-1