SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Cherie DeVaux may have had the best week of any trainer to run horses at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, but Mark Casse was a close second. While DeVaux won two Grade 1s, highlighted of course by Golden Tempo’s victory in the $2 million Belmont Stakes, Casse won three Grade 1 stakes, and four stakes and five races overall. Last Friday, Casse won two Grade 1 stakes 77 minutes apart when Counting Stars took the Acorn for 3-year-old fillies followed two races later by Nitrogen’s 12 3/4-length dominant victory in the Ogden Phipps. On Saturday, Casse got his hat trick of Grade 1 stakes when Classic Q held on to win the Just a Game Stakes. Mi Bago had gotten the week off to a good start winning the Kingston. Casse capped the week on Sunday when New York Special won a maiden race on the turf. “If someone said you’d win one Grade 1 I’d have said, ‘I’m good with that,’ ” Casse said Monday. “It’s like it’s not even real.” Nitrogen’s victory in the Phipps was a wow performance. Showing a new dimension by going to the lead, Nitrogen, over a fast and speed-favoring track, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.93 – just .29 off the track record set by Lawyer Ron in the 2007 Whitney. Nitogen earned a 113 Beyer Speed Figure. Nitrogen is now 3 for 3 at Saratoga on dirt with wins in the Phipps, and in last year’s Grade 1 Alabama and the off-the-turf Wonder Again. She won the Wonder Again by 17 lengths in the slop. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Casse said Nitrogen will most likely make her next two starts here, first in the Grade 2, $250,000 Shuvee on July 24 and then the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 29. “I don’t want to take her out of Saratoga, she loves it there,” Casse said. “I got to try and figure out the best way to get to the Breeders’ Cup.” Counting Stars has two more Grade 1 opportunities this summer at Saratoga with the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 18 to be followed by the Alabama on Aug. 22. Counting Stars rebounded from a third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks by running by Oaks winner Always a Runner to win the Acorn by 3 3/4 lengths. “I’d been waiting on that,” said Casse, who won last year’s Acorn with La Cara. “She’s pretty good.” Classic Q has now won two graded stakes against fillies and mares going one mile this year. Without a definitive option for females at Saratoga, Classic Q could be considered for the Grade 1 Fourstardave against males on Aug. 8. Casse sent out the mare Got Stormy to win the Fourstardave in 2019 and 2021. “I could see that happening,” Casse said. Mi Bago won the Kingston for New York-breds on June 3. The next New York-bred route turf stakes isn’t until the West Point on Aug. 28. Mi Bago could be considered for the Grade 3, $225,000 Kelso going a mile at Saratoga on July 5. New York Special, a 3-year-old New York-bred daughter of Curlin and half-sister to Saratoga-loving Casa Creed, will have plenty of options available to her this summer after getting up to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden here on Sunday. While those five horses will be racing again this summer at Saratoga, Casse noted that Bring Theband Home, a two-time sprint stakes winner here last summer who has yet to race this year, returned to the work tab last Friday. He will most likely be pointed to a repeat bid in the Grade 2, $300,000 Troy Stakes here on Aug. 9. Silent Tactic, the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes winner who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby due to a bruised foot, has worked twice in Saratoga. Casse said he doesn’t have a definitive plan for Silent Tactic but said he will keep an eye on the Jim Dandy on Aug. 1. That race is expected to be the next target for Golden Tempo. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.