Mark Casse and Jon Green heard and read the comments. They tried to ignore the knocks and notions, sentiments from the wannabes and hopeful sharps that Nitrogen not only preferred the grass but probably was better on the stuff.
Ignoring only goes so far, especially when it comes to digs at a champion filly.
Nitrogen gave reason to hush those doubters with an emphatic victory in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps, running free through the lane to win in a romp and just miss an almost 19-year-old track record for the same 9 furlongs that several major Saratoga stakes are contested.
“I just want to officially say, I’m tired of hearing everybody say she doesn’t like the dirt,” Casse said after the 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly won by 12 3/4 lengths under Jose Ortiz in 1:46.93 over the fast track.
Green, part of D J Stable with his father Leonard Green, found the victory by the even-money favorite especially sweet after she lost her most recent two starts in March and April at Oaklawn Park after a win there in early February to start the season.
“I’m rarely speechless and I’m kind of in a fog right now,” Green said. “I think it’s fair to say its validating. For the simple reason that there were a lot of people, not that we listen to the fans as far as making major decisions, but there were people that said, ‘come on, she’s better on the turf.’ ”
“You can make the case that in the slop at Oaklawn she didn’t have the turn of foot that she normally does. I attribute that more to the track surface than her abilities. Mark had her cranked today and now this is the second half of the year where the rubber meets the road.”
Nitrogen loves the road to Saratoga, where she’s now 3-for-3 with victories in the off-the-turf Grade 3 Wonder Again and Grade 1 Alabama last year. The 17-length Wonder Again followed by a nose defeat back on the grass in the Belmont Oaks Invitational last July at Saratoga paved the way to Nitrogen’s career on the dirt.
She won the 10-furlong Alabama before a runner-up finish to Gin Gin in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland to earn a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff field. She finished second in the Distaff at Del Mar, finishing the season with six wins and three seconds in nine starts, good enough to be an overwhelming winner of the Eclipse Award race for champion 3-year-old filly.
The 2026 season started strong, with a 2 ¾-length win in the Grade 3 Bayakoa at Oaklawn before back-to-back defeats in the Grade 2 Azeri behind Majestic Oops in the slop and Grade 1 Apple Blossom behind Claret Beret on a fast track.
Ortiz, aboard for all of those starts and more going back to her juvenile campaign, and Casse blamed the sloppy track for the third-place showing in the Azeri.
“I’ve never felt her so tired,” Ortiz told Casse, who said Nitrogen’s larger feet didn’t negotiate the off going as well as Majestic Oops’ on that rainy afternoon. Nitrogen made amends in the Apple Blossom, outfinishing Majestic Oops and Regaled while not being a threat to the winner.
Casse sent Nitrogen to his string at Keeneland Race Course with Caden Arthur, who also oversaw much of her work at Oaklawn, with sights set on major races the second half of the season.
Nitrogen breezed three times between the Apple Blossom and Ogden Phipps, including a strong 5 furlongs in :59.60 May 24. She shipped to Casse’s string in Saratoga shortly after that work and Arthur wasn’t about to miss it. He caught a ride on a private plane from Lexington to Saratoga Springs Friday morning, with a quick return in the evening, and soaked in the stable’s victories with Nitrogen and Counting Stars in the Grade 1 Acorn.
“I was with both Stars and Nitrogen all winter,” Arthur said. “When they were both entered I called Mark the other day and said, ‘I hate to miss these two.’ I loved them all winter. Had to be there. Nitrogen, how can you not love her? Her last breeze she looked like a freak. Honestly it was the best work I’ve probably ever seen in my life, she did it so easy. She likes this track, she won the Alabama here last year so that was a plus.”
Nitrogen showed her fondness for the quick Saratoga surface and took the lead from the start, opening up a length on Bless The Broken through the opening quarter in :23.74.
“Mark told me if she breaks, ‘don’t be afraid to go to the lead,’ ” Ortiz said. “She broke, I took the lead.”
Maybe not game over, but close.
Nitrogen and Bless The Broken continued to lead the other four through the half in :47.26 and 6 furlongs in 1:10.48 before Ortiz cut her loose between the three-eighths and quarter poles. Nitrogen responded quick, opening up turning for home and flying past the eighth pole 6 1/2 lengths clear of Fully Subscribed.
“She relaxed well,” Ortiz said. “When I asked her to go, she was there for me. She was much the best, as you saw. I asked her from the quarter-pole to the eighth-pole and she opened up. She drifted out a little. I looked back, nobody was coming, so I kind of wrapped up. Now I see that she was a fifth off the record, maybe I should’ve kept asking her and tried to break it, but she did enough.”
Nitrogen cruised home clear, picking up $275,000 to pad her bankroll to $2,730,854 from a record of 8-5-3 in 16 starts. Fully Subscribed and Bless The Broken finished in a dead-heat for second, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Regaled in fourth.
“She’s been doing amazing,” Casse said. “Every time Jose was riding one for us this weekend, I keep saying ‘the big mare’s doing so good, the big mare’s doing so good.’ She was good. … She’s beautiful, she’s grown up, she’s massive.”
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