SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After rolling through the competition in her first seven starts, Good Cheer hit an unexpected roadblock in her march to a divisional championship when she finished fifth in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes here on June 6. Was it as simple as her not caring for a sloppy Saratoga track that day or was there more to it? That answer, as well as a defined leader in the 3-year-old filly division, should become clearer when Good Cheer takes on two-time Grade 1 winner La Cara and her dual surface graded-stakes winning stablemate Nitrogen in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. Good Cheer won five consecutive races at 1 1/16 miles before successfully stepping up to 1 1/8 miles in the Kentucky Oaks, which she won in the Churchill slop by 2 1/4 lengths. When the Saratoga main track came up sloppy for the Grade 1 Acorn, bettors assumed that would suit Good Cheer. It didn’t. At 1-5, she finished fifth, 9 1/4 lengths behind La Cara, who finished ninth in the Kentucky Oaks. Cox believes the slop was the reason for Good Cheer’s non-effort in the Acorn. Cox left her at Saratoga after that race, and he and son Blake, his assistant, have been satisfied with how she’s trained. “We freshened her up, gave some time since the Acorn. She’s been working steady since,” Cox said. “I think she’s ready to run a big race.” :: Bet Smarter at Saratoga. Unlock DRF data and expert analysis all meet long. Save with a Saratoga Handicapping Package from DRF.  Cox doesn’t view the 1 1/4 miles of the Alabama as problematic. “I always thought it’d be something she’d like based on her pedigree and based on her physical[ity] and how she traveled and her stride,” Cox said. With La Cara the primary speed in the field, Good Cheer, who will break from post 2 under Luis Saez, may have to come out of her game a little bit, but Cox believes she’s capable of being closer. “A mile and a quarter is a long way around there,” Cox said. “I don’t know what anybody else’s tactics are, but we’re going to break and ask to get some early position, let her get in a rhythm.” Cox also sends out Margie’s Intention, who won the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico in May before finishing second to Fondly in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks last month. “At Delaware, she didn’t get away quite as well as we expected and then they got stacked up down the backside,” Cox said. “She always puts in a big effort. She’s always right there and I kind of feel like the more ground, the better.” Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Margie’s Intention from the rail. Nitrogen and La Cara appeared to give trainer Mark Casse top 3-year-old fillies for the dirt and turf. But when the Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes came off the turf on June 7, Casse left Nitrogen in the field and she galloped to a 17-length victory, albeit against just two rivals. Casse put Nitrogen back on the turf for the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, but he always wanted to run her back in the Alabama, provided she worked well on a dry, fast dirt track, which on July 25 she did. “Nitrogen has a little gas,” Casse said. “They’re going a mile and a quarter. She’s not going to be too far behind.” Nitrogen will start from post 4 under Jose Ortiz. La Cara, who won the Grade 1 Ashland and Acorn, had to scratch from the Coaching Club American Oaks due to a quarantine issue stemming from another horse stabled in her barn. Thus, she is coming into the Alabama off a 71-day layoff. “I’m concerned that we missed that race because I had her on a perfect schedule,” Casse said. “I tried to do as much as I can with her, but now I’m asking her to go an extra eighth of a mile off a long layoff. Physically, she’s never looked better.” Dylan Davis rides La Cara from post 6. Kinzie Queen, trained by Greg Compton, is coming off third-place finishes in the Black-Eyed Susan and Delaware Oaks. Overall, she is 2 for 13. Queen Azteca is in from Sweden for trainer Niels Petersen, though she will be staying in the U.S. and moving to Rodolphe Brisset after this race. Queen Azteca won the Group 3 UAE Oaks at 1 3/16 miles in Dubai and then won a 1 3/8-mile race two starts back. Petersen said Queen Azteca usually breaks well but then drops out of her races. “The mid-section of the race, it’s not as fast as the fillies here,” Petersen said. “The distance suits her. She ran a mile and a half last time and she was wide all the way. And she didn’t really get into the race, but she still ran a fantastic race. “Distance, no problem. It’s a matter of how much she has to make up to get involved in anything. This is a class field, so it’s not like we’re walking over there thinking we have a good shot of winning – we’re not. But if we can pick up a horse or two, I think we’ve done as good as we could.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.