Beldame easy path to Breeders' Cup for Nitrogen

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame, to be run Friday at Belmont Park, was not the original plan for Nitrogen. In the end, however, it may turn out to be the right one.

On paper, Nitrogen should have an easy time in the Beldame as she gets in a prep race before the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Nitrogen, last year’s 3-year-old filly champion, is a seven-time graded stakes winner, including two Grade 1s. None of her four opponents Friday has won a graded race.

The Beldame, run at 1 1/8 miles, was among four options for Nitrogen coming out of her second-place finish to Sovereignty in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 8 at Saratoga. The first was the Locust Grove on Sept. 12 at Churchill Downs. Trainer Mark Casse eschewed that option because the day he was going to ship her from Saratoga it was scorching hot in Louisville.

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Casse instead decided to ship Nitrogen to Belmont Park, where he and owners Jon and Len Green briefly flirted with the idea of running against males again in the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 18. That idea was scuttled, and the Beldame was chosen over the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 4 at Keeneland.

“The Gold Cup was tempting but ultimately we felt like the Breeders’ Cup [Distaff] has always been our goal,” Casse said. “We didn’t want to lose focus. I think this is the best spot for her.”

Though Nitrogen got beat in the Whitney, Casse was thrilled with her effort. Nitrogen set the pace, running six furlongs in 1:09.65 with Antiquarian in pursuit. While Nitrogen put that one away, she was no match for Sovereignty, the 2025 Horse of the Year, who rolled past her to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Nitrogen still hung in to finish second, finishing in front of four Grade 1 winners.

“I felt like she was the fastest horse in the race as far as speed-wise,” Casse said. “We were not going to take her back, we let her do her thing. She runs her best race that way. No way did I think she would go three-quarters in 1:09 and 3. I’m sure that took its toll somewhat, but I was extremely proud of her because she could have let two or three good colts pass her in the last eighth of a mile and she didn’t let that happen. Proud moment for our team and for us.”

By design, Nitrogen has had a light work tab. She has only breezed three times in the six weeks between races, including a rather easy half-mile in 49.60 seconds on Sept. 12 at Belmont.

“I have not trained her extremely hard up to this race. Part of it was not really knowing where we were running,” Casse said. “She does well off this timing and she’s done well with not doing a lot of breezing. I feel very confident about Friday.”

Jose Ortiz rides Nitrogen from post 4, and she will likely once again be the pacesetter.

Trainer Chad Brown is sending his top older filly, Fully Subscribed, to Keeneland for the Spinster. He has entered both Lost Horizon and Donor Advised in the Beldame, admittedly taking a shot while hoping for graded stakes placing.

Lost Horizon, a daughter of Into Mischief out of 2018 Beldame winner Wow Cat, won the Serena’s Song Stakes in May and, most recently, finished second to Splendora, beaten 5 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher. Splendora came back to win the Grade 2 Locust Grove by 5 1/4 lengths.

Donor Advised, by Gun Runner, came off a 13-month layoff to win a first-level allowance going a mile on Aug. 30 at Saratoga.

Boutwell Time brings a four-race winning streak into the Beldame, though only one of those wins came this year. She beat only two horses in the Heavenly Cause Stakes in April before she was found to have an ankle chip that was surgically removed. Trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero said he was not targeting the Beldame but entered when it came up light on numbers.

Lika Rolling Stone, a 5-year-old mare, just ran 10th in a starter allowance last Saturday at Parx Racing and looks like a last-minute throw-in to help this race fill.

The Beldame, which offers the winner a $30,000 credit – half of the pre-entry/entry fees – to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, is carded as race 2 on a nine-race card that begins at 1:10 p.m.

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