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Common Defense looks set to take a big step forward in the Southwest Stakes following his Oaklawn maiden victory.
Saturday marks the first big coast-to-coast day of early-season 3-year-old racing, and two of the division’s fastest, Fierceness and Nysos, make their first start of 2023.
They can’t be played at the expected miniscule odds, but neither can Fierceness in the Holy Bull nor Nysos in the Robert Lewis be easily opposed. One might imagine Nysos as the more vulnerable favorite since he tries two turns for the first time, but if you watched him dispose of the solid older horse Reincarnate in a recent team workout, you’d be hard-pressed to bet against Nysos.