SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mark Casse has an interesting summer mapped out for his 3-year-old filly Nitrogen – one that, if successful, he hopes could put her in contention for an Eclipse Award. Already 5 for 5 in 2025, Nitrogen gave Casse something to ponder when she rolled to a 17-length victory in the off-the-turf Wonder Again Stakes at Saratoga last month. That race served as a paid workout for Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational at Saratoga on turf, but it was a performance that has Casse plotting a return to dirt in the Grade 1 Alabama here on Aug. 16. “Obviously, it was a bad race, but I thought how fast she ran and with the ease she did it was amazing,” Casse said. The Belmont Oaks will be run at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga, shorter than than the 1 1/4 miles at which it was run at Belmont Park and the 1 3/16 miles at which it was run last summer when it was held at Aqueduct. Still, the distance is farther than Nitrogen has run to date, which Casse thinks is “better for her.” “I always worried that they would outsprint her,” he added. Despite the busy first half of the year, Casse believes Nitrogen is improving. “If you look at her form, it looks like she’s getting better,” Casse said. “The thing about her is she’ll shut off. Jose [Ortiz] can put her wherever he wants.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Nitrogen breaks from the outside post in this seven-horse field. The last time Nitrogen lost was in November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar, where she finished third behind Lake Victoria and May Day Ready. Lake Victoria won the Irish 1,000 Guineas on May 25 in her second start of the year. May Day Ready went to Japan last December, finishing 13th in the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Trainer Joe Lee said May Day Ready came into season while in Japan and he says that race is simply a throw-out. “She ran around there like a pack horse,” Lee said. “She never gave an effort.” May Day Ready missed a planned start in the Edgewood at Churchill Downs in May and had to make her 3-year-old debut in the Wonder Again, where she finished last in the scratch-reduced field of three. “She ran about three-quarters of the race and Frankie [Dettori] minded her the rest of the way because she wasn’t going anywhere,” Lee said. “I’m worried about not having a real good race under her belt. If she had been eight out of it and came running and got beat three lengths, I’d be happier than I am now.” Fionn and Totally Justified were separated by a half-length when finishing one-two in the Grade 3 Regret Stakes at Churchill on May 31. For Fionn, it was her fourth win from her last five starts, the lone defeat a third-place finish behind Nitrogen in the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland going a mile over wet turf in April. Totally Justified is only 1 for 7, but the one win came as maiden here last August in the P.G. Johnson Stakes. She was beaten a nose by May Day Ready in the Grade 2 Jessamine. “She’s got one bad race in her whole career and it was on soft ground,” trainer Rusty Arnold said, referring to Totally Justified’s fifth-place finish to Nitrogen in the Appalachian. “I know Mark’s filly is really good, and it was a nice compliment to her that [Lush Lips won the Tepin]. That form stands out, but somebody’s got to run against her.” Luis Saez rides Totally Justified from post 3. Chad Brown has won this race six times, twice when it was known as the Garden City before being renamed the Belmont Oaks in 2014. Saturday, Brown sends out Opulent Restraint and Virgin Colada, the second- and third-place finishers behind Laurelin in the Memories of Silver Stakes at Aqueduct in April. Laurelin won last weekend’s Penn Oaks to remain undefeated in four starts. Laurelin is trained by Graham Motion, who in the Belmont Oaks sends out Warming, coming off a neck victory in a first-level allowance at Delaware Park on June 13. The Belmont Oaks goes as race 11 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m. and includes the Grade 3 Sanford for 2-year-old males and the Grade 3 Kelso for older males going a mile on turf. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.