Mark Casse has handled plenty of stellar turf fillies, including champions Tepin, a two-time Eclipse Award heroine, and Canadian Horse of the Year Catch a Glimpse. Nitrogen might not be at that level yet, but Casse said she is “catching up.” She remained unbeaten in four starts this year with a victory in the Grade 2 Edgewood for 3-year-old turf fillies on Friday at Churchill Downs, and will now eye an elusive Grade 1 win.
Last year, while still a maiden, Nitrogen was third, beaten less than a length, in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine, and was again third, rallying from 11th in the stretch, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. This year, she ripped through the Ginger Brew and Grade 3 Florida Oaks before coming to Kentucky to win the Grade 2 Appalachian and now the Edgewood.
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Casse said. “I keep saying this, her race in the Breeders’ Cup, I think she could have given the winner” – Lake Victoria – “a run for her money, but had a rough trip.”
Casse indicated Nitrogen will target the division’s major races in New York this summer. In June, July, and August at Saratoga, there are five graded stakes at Saratoga for 3-year-old fillies beyond a mile on turf, chief among those the Grade 1, $500,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational at 1 1/8 miles on July 5, and the Grade 2, $500,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational at 1 3/16 miles on Aug. 9. Casse expressed no reservations about adding distance, going from 1 1/16 miles in Nitrogen’s two most recent starts.
This puts Nitrogen on a course similar to Catch a Glimpse, who did accomplish more as a 2-year-old, winning the 2015 Natalma and BC Juvenile Fillies Turf to earn her championship. She came out in 2016 to win the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride, then the Appalachian and Edgewood. She defeated colts in the Grade 3 Penn Mile before winning the Belmont Oaks.
“She still has a ways to go,” Casse said of Nitrogen. “But she’s getting there. I think we’ll find out this summer in some Grade 1s.”
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