Nitrogen could start 2026 campaign in Azeri

Eclipse Award finalist Nitrogen has returned to the work tab and is gearing up for a 4-year-old campaign that could be launched at Oaklawn Park.

“We’re looking at possibly the Azeri for her first start,” trainer Mark Casse said Monday.

The Grade 2, $400,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles is March 7. It often produces starters for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap on April 11 at Oaklawn.

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Nitrogen was announced as a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly of 2025 on Sunday for a campaign in which she won five graded stakes, including the Grade 1 Alabama. She also finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Casse said Nitrogen was freshened after the Breeders’ Cup and had her first work back Dec. 31. She breezed three furlongs in 37.40 seconds at the Casse Training Center in Ocala, Fla.

“Some horses rest better than others, they enjoy the turnout and take it easy, she does not,” Casse said. “She likes to train. She didn’t handle the outside turnout very well. I brought her back a couple of weeks earlier than scheduled.”

Nitrogen is an earner of $2 million who races for her breeder, D. J. Stable.

– additional reporting by David Grening

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