Nero and St Patrick's Day to miss Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Both Nero and St Patrick’s Day came into the summer at Del Mar with hopes of making the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile for trainer Bob Baffert, but the highly regarded pair both will miss the race, as neither has worked since his most recent start.

St Patrick’s Day, a full brother to 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, ran twice at Del Mar, with a victory on Sept. 2 following a second-place finish on Aug. 20.

“I’m going to hold off on him,” Baffert said. “He’s a bit immature.”

Nero, a $950,000 yearling purchase, was second in his debut on Aug. 27 at Del Mar under Martin Garcia when he was caught right at the wire.

“He got sick when we first got here,” Baffert said at Santa Anita.

“Since they’re not going to make the Breeders’ Cup, we’ll just go easy with them for now,” he said.

Both 2-year-olds are owned by Coolmore, and both are sons of Pioneerof the Nile.

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Hard Aces back to Marathon

The longer the better for Hard Aces, who will make his next start going 1 3/4 miles on dirt in the Grade 2, $200,000 Marathon Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 3, part of the undercard on Day 1 of the Breeders’ Cup.

Hard Aces most recently was fifth in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 19. He will not race again until the Marathon, trainer John Sadler said at Santa Anita.

Hard Aces, 7, has raced 43 times and has earned more than $1.2 million. He finished second in last year’s Marathon when it was run at Santa Anita.