Nitrogen has turf race next, but then likely returns to dirt

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Nitrogen, the 17-length winner of Saturday’s off-the-turf Wonder Again Stakes, will return to the turf for her next start but trainer Mark Casse said she could be candidate for the Grade 1 Alabama back on dirt on Aug. 16.

Nitrogen won her fifth straight race when she galloped in the slop in the Wonder Again, a race that was scheduled for the turf but was moved to the dirt after 2.24 inches of rain fell in the Saratoga area over a 24-hour period, prompting track officials to cancel turf racing on Saturday.

Casse said he wanted to run in the Wonder Again to keep Nitorgen on schedule for the Grade 1, $500,000 Belmont Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on turf here on July 5. After that, Casse said the Alabama makes some sense because the trainer believes she’ll handle the 1 1/4-mile distance of that race.

“She shuts off and goes whenever Jose [Ortiz] asks her to go,” Casse said. “The [Belmont] Oaks would be nice and then maybe the Alabama.”

Meanwhile, Casse’s two-time Grade 1 dirt-stakes-winning 3-year-old filly, La Cara, will seek a third such victory in the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks here on July 19. La Cara won Friday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes in front-running fashion, handing Good Cheer, who beat La Cara in the Kentucky Oaks, her first career defeat.

La Cara’s Acorn win came over a sloppy Saratoga track that was quite different than the wet track she encountered at Churchill Downs.

“Dylan [Davis] said two different types of tracks - Churchill was a little more pulling kind of suction type, they were bouncing over this.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.