Nitrogen has been racing and winning all year, but only in the past two weeks has her standing changed dramatically for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Nitrogen went from a double-digit longshot to likely second favorite.
A better-than-looked runner-up finish by Nitrogen in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 5 and two major defections from the Distaff have elevated Nitrogen to 4-1 on the Daily Racing Form’s early odds line. Seismic Beauty is the 8-5 favorite.
The Distaff field has weakened. Thorpedo Anna will not run after finishing fourth in the Spinster, and unbeaten Grade 1 winner Cavalieri defected last week. Thorpedo Anna and Cavalieri were the top two favorites into October, while Nitrogen was 10-1. That was before defections – and before Nitrogen’s first start against older horses in the Spinster.
“It’s a big jump when you ask 3-year-olds to go after the older mares, and it’s not something I normally do,” trainer Mark Casse said. “Our thought was, let’s run [in the Spinster] and see whether to go ahead and give her the rest of the year off or she can play with the big girls.”
Nitrogen can play with the big girls. She lost ground three wide in the Spinster, got the best of Thorpedo Anna, and finished a head behind rail-skimming pacesetter Gin Gin. It was a solid comeback for Nitrogen, who was making her first start in seven weeks.
“She’s not much of a work horse,” Casse said. “If you watch her work, you’d think she’s just an ordinary horse. You watch her gallop, she puts no effort into it. She could give a hoot. That’s the bad news. The good news is that’s what makes her so great.”
Nitrogen saves it for races. She’s won 6 of 8 this year, with two runner-up finishes. With the Spinster under her belt and running back only four weeks later in the Distaff, Nitrogen should be dead fit. Jose Ortiz is her rider.
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In addition to Thorpedo Anna’s off-the-board finish, another surprise in the Spinster was the front-running comeback win by Gin Gin. A Grade 3 winner going in, Gin Gin was 18-1 and making her first start in three months for trainer Brendan Walsh.
“I was expecting her to run well,” said Walsh, who knew Gin Gin was up against it facing Thorpedo Anna and Nitrogen. “With those two fillies in there, you weren’t really expecting to win. She’s a filly. When she’s doing well, she’ll run her eyeballs out. That that’s what she did.”
Gin Gin, whose rider is Luis Saez, gives Walsh two shots in the Distaff. He also trains Clicquot, winner of the Grade 1 Cotillion on Sept. 20 at Parx Racing. Clicquot’s rider is Irad Ortiz Jr.
Dorth Vader is the 6-1 third choice on the DRF odds line. An upset winner of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign in her most recent start on Aug. 23, the George Weaver trainee will be ridden by John Velazquez. That leaves Gun Song without a rider.
Gun Song won the Grade 2 Beldame on Sept. 26. She is expected work this week for trainer Mark Hennig, who said a jockey assignment has not been finalized.
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