Full Serrano Targets Dirt Mile Repeat Over Deep Field

An exceptionally deep field has been attracted to the 2025 edition of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) with three contenders seeking a second World Championships victory and plenty of challengers well positioned to be spoilers. The previous Breeders' Cup victors pre-entered include Citizen Bull, winner of the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1); Full Serrano (ARG), who won last year's Dirt Mile; and White Abarrio, who won the 2023 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Full Serrano has made two starts since last year's Breeders' Cup, sidelined with an undisclosed injury until early July when he returned to the work tab at Santa Anita Park. The 6-year-old Argentine-bred son of Full Mast made his first start of the year Sept. 1 in a $100,000 allowance optional claimer over a mile at Del Mar, which he won by 7 1/4 lengths. He returned to grade 1 competition nearly a month later in the 1 1/8-mile Goodwood Stakes (G1), where he set the pace but got passed in the stretch by Nevada Beach. Stepping back to a mile at Del Mar could serve Full Serrano well since he has a 6-3-1 record out of 12 starts at the distance and three wins and a second out of four starts at the seaside racetrack. Full Serrano is trained by John Sadler for Hronis Racing. Citizen Bull brings a strong local preference to the Dirt Mile for trainer Bob Baffert and an ownership team that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert Masterson, Tom Ryan, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan. The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief and 2024 champion 2-year-old male is one of four sophomores entered in the Dirt Mile. What Citizen Bull may lack in experience against older horses, he will likely make up for with his affinity for Southern California. The colt is 2-for-2 racing at a mile on the dirt at Del Mar and Santa Anita. Citizen Bull was unplaced in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on a sloppy Churchill Downs surface and fourth in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) in the mud at Saratoga Race Course. Then he returned to Del Mar for the 1-mile Shared Belief Stakes where he won in front-running fashion by 5 1/2 lengths in his most recent start and earned a career-best Equibase Speed Figure of 112 for the effort. White Abarrio has been struggling since March to regain the winning form shown at the start of the year with a 6 1/4-length win in Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and 5 1/4-length win in the Ghostzapper Stakes (G3), both at Gulfstream Park. He has been unplaced in three starts since then in three grade 1 stakes at Saratoga. Back at Gulfstream, he has put in three consecutive bullet works at 4 furlongs during Oct. 2-21. Coming into the Dirt Mile in much sharper form are four with a pair of wins each in their most recent starts and one is an undefeated group 3 winner from Uruguay, Touch of Destiny (URU), who will be making his first start in the United States for trainer Michael McCarthy. The 3-year-old son of Midshipman is a homebred for Haras Phillipson and riding a six-race winning streak that includes three locally recognized stakes at Maronas Racetrack and two other internationally recognized black-type stakes. He comes into the Dirt Mile off a 5-length win in the 1-mile Clasico Asociacion Uruguaya de Propietarios de Caballos de Carrera (G3) on Maronas' main track. The colt has won his last three races by a combined 21 lengths. Baoma Corp.'s Nysos is only a neck short of an undefeated record, having finished just shy of Mindframe in the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) in May. He has four other starts in graded stakes, two at Santa Anita and two at Del Mar. The 4-year-old son of Nyquist comes into the Dirt Mile off a 2 3/4-length win the San Diego Handicap (G2) and before that won the Triple Bend Stakes (G3) by 5 1/2 lengths over multiple grade 2 winner Dr. Venkman. Coming into the Dirt Mile off a pair of victories is Wathnan Racing's Tumbarumba, a 5-year-old gelded son of Oscar Performance who has a 4-3-2 record out of 12 starts at a mile, all on dirt. Tumbarumba last out won the Ack Ack Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.