(Nitrogen / Photos by Holly M. Smith)

From the NYRA Media Team:

D.J. Stable’s Kentucky homebred Nitrogen, the reigning Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, returns to the site of her Grade 1 Alabama score in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps presented by Ford, a nine-furlong test for older fillies and mares, during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

The Ogden Phipps offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff in October at Keeneland. Nitrogen was a 5 1/2-length second to the pacesetting Scylla in that World Championships event to cap her past campaign in November at Del Mar.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro bay captured the 10-furlong Grade 1 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales in August here during her Eclipse Award-winning, 9-6-3-0 sophomore campaign that earned $1.9 million. Nitrogen has never missed the board during her 15-7-5-3 career that has banked in excess of $2.4 million.

The top-class filly made her three starts this year going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park, winning the Grade 3 Bayakoa with a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure in February, ahead of a third in the Grade 2 Azeri and a second in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap the next two months. In the latter, Nitrogen matched her 97 Beyer, but landed 4 1/2 lengths behind the masterful Claret Beret, who sadly succumbed to a suspected cardiac event following a work on May 22.

“Her first effort back was great, but I thought her second run back was a little bit lackluster. Last time, she was really good,” Casse said. “It’s very unfortunate that the filly that beat her passed away. I thought that was going to be the start of a really good rivalry.”

Nitrogen made her first seven starts on turf until the Grade 3 Wonder Again was moved to the main track during the last Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, where she proceeded to dominate the three-horse field by 17 lengths. She returned to grass next out here, suffering a nose defeat to track-record setting Fionn in the nine-furlong Mellon turf Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational, and has competed on dirt since.

“She likes Saratoga, and the added distance doesn’t hurt,” Casse said. “Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but right now we’re committed to the dirt.”

Nitrogen [post 5, Jose Ortiz] worked a bullet half-mile in 47.80 seconds on May 14 over the Keeneland main track and returned 10 days later over the same surface to breeze a bullet five-eighths in 59.60 – the spacing between those efforts related to wet weather.

“She’s training really well,” Casse said.

Nitrogen, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed Love to Shop, is out of the stakes-placed Uncle Mo mare Tiffany Case, who sold for $3.2 million at the 2026 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages sale and is a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Talk Veuve to Me.

Dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox will hold a strong hand with dual graded stakes-winner Alpine Princess [post 3, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] and multiple Grade 1-placed Bless the Broken [post 6, Florent Geroux].

Full of Run Racing II and Madaket Stables’ Alpine Princess posted a career-best 97 Beyer last out when capturing the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Doubledogdare on April 17 at Keeneland. The 5-year-old Classic Empire bay was making her second start of the year after a five-length runner-up finish to Claret Beret in the Grade 3 Royal Delta in February at Gulfstream Park. Her last campaign ended with a grade-making win in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Falls City in November at Churchill Downs.

Qatar Racing, Mountmellick Farm and Hunter Valley Farm’s Bless the Broken was a $950,000 purchase at the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. Before that point, she was a closing third in last year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks for trainer Will Walden. For new connections, she has added two more top-level placings, a second in the one-mile Beholder Mile in March at Santa Anita Park and a third last out in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 La Troienne on May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Ribble Farms and Front Page Equestrian’s Regaled [post 2, Joseph Ramos] will launch an upset bid for the in-form barn of trainer Whit Beckman. From March through May, the conditioner sent out 13 of 15 graded stakes starters to be in the top-four, including the maiden Ocelli to finish third at odds of 70-1 in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.

Regaled enters from a fourth in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom, which followed a close second in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Azeri on March 7 at Oaklawn. In both races, the 5-year-old Mohaymen dark bay was last through three-quarters.

“I think the mile and an eighth will equalize her needing such a strong pace,” Beckman said. “She always closes really well and runs really well at a mile and an eighth. At Oaklawn, we only had a mile and sixteenth races at the start of the year.”

Regaled’s nine-furlong efforts include a 6 1/4-length win in last year’s Delaware Handicap ahead of a third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, just a half-length back of runner-up Nitrogen.

“All week long, nobody was closing on that track, and she made the best move from a horse trailing the field of any of the races,” Beckman said of the Distaff. “We were extremely happy with the effort, but we knew we were up against it on that track.”

Regaled, a $300,000 purchase at the 2025 Inglis Digital May Sale, is out of the winning Daaher mare Ascot Walk, making her an older half-sister to Drexel Hill, who was second in last year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks for Beckman.

Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed [post 1, Flavien Prat] has won 2-of-3 starts at nine furlongs, missing by just a neck in her lone defeat at the distance. Trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, the 4-year-old Tiz the Law chestnut secured her first career stakes win with a 4 1/2-length romp in the Grade 2 Mother Goose going 1 1/8 miles in November at Aqueduct Racetrack and followed one month later over the same course and distance with a four-length victory in the Grade 3 Comely.

Fully Subscribed chased the pace from third position last out as the favorite in the Grade 1 La Troienne and made a sustained attempt to pass Shred the Gnar down the lane, but had to settle for place honors while one-length back in her top-flight and seasonal debut.

A $300,000 buy from the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, Fully Subscribed is out of the winning Candy Ride mare Sweetbaby, while her second dam is multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Rutherienne. Brown won the Phipps in 2024 with Randomized.

Rounding out the field is last-out one-turn mile Grade 2 Ruffian runner-up Cassiar [post 4, Dylan Davis, blinkers ON] for Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. The 4-year-old City of Light bay, owned by Lane’s End, is a closing sort who seeks her first win around two turns in her eighth overall start.

The Ogden Phipps is slated as Race 12 on Friday’s 14-race program, which includes the Grade 1 DraftKings Acorn [Race 10], Grade 1 New York [Race 11], Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses presented by Boldyn Networks [Race 4], and the Grade 2 Wonder Again presented by Shift4 [Race 9]. First post is 11:45 a.m. Eastern with admission gates open to the public at 10 a.m.

America’s Day at the Races presents daily coverage and analysis of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.belmontstakes.com/event-info/tv-schedule.