Nitrogen on track for Azeri; will face stablemate La Cara

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Champion Nitrogen breezed Wednesday at Oaklawn in her first move since winning her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Bayakoa here Feb. 7.

She went a half-mile in 49.60 seconds. The track was fast and the move was what trainer Mark Casse said he was looking for, to “do a little something, but not a lot.”

“She’s doing super,” he said.

Casse said Nitrogen remains on course for the Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri on March 7 at Oaklawn.

“The plan is we’re going to run Nitrogen and La Cara in the Azeri,” he said “Our plan is to run them together this time and then we’ll separate from this point on. I flirted with the idea of taking La Cara out to the Beholder [at Santa Anita], but she’s already a multiple Grade 1 winner.”

Casse said he also considered the fact that La Cara did not run her race the last time she competed in Southern California – she was fifth in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.

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“We’re just going to stay home.” Casse said Monday. “She loves Oaklawn and we’ll run her there.”

Others pointing for the Azeri include Perfect Shot, according to her trainer, Steve Asmussen. She won the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic in January. The Ladies Classic has produced several filly and mare stakes winners at Oaklawn. La Cara was fifth in the Houston Ladies Classic, which was run over a muddy track.

Break for Ewing

Ewing, the Grade 2 winner who suffered the first defeat of his career when sixth in the $150,000 Ozark on Feb. 16 at Oaklawn, will be getting some downtime, trainer Mark Casse said.

“Ewing is coming home and he’s going to get a break,” said the Florida-based Casse. “He’s got a ton of talent. I don’t really have a good reason for his [finish]. He came out of the race fine. I kind of feel like he still needs to grow up some and that’s what I’m going to do, give him a few months to grow up.”

Ewing won his debut and the Grade 2 Saratoga Special by a combined 13 lengths last year at Saratoga. He was making his first start at 3 in the Ozark.

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