SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Nitrogen’s affinity for Saratoga was evident for all to see again on Friday with her dominant victory in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, which makes the task of choosing where she’ll make her next start an easy decision.

Somewhat more complicated, perhaps, is in which race Nitrogen should run. The logical spot is the Grade 2, $250,000 Shuvee on July 24. That race, at 1 1/8 miles, is the stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign on Aug. 29, which is likely the main summer target for last year’s 3-year-old filly champion.

Sharmin, a 5-year-old mare, was euthanized on the track following a scary incident at Laurel Park on Friday, in which apprentice jockey Jose Vargas was unseated and an outrider had to be sent to a nearby hospital.

The incident occurred during the stretch run of the eighth race, a first-level allowance on the turf. While fading down the center of the track, the mare ducked toward the outer rail, forcing Vargas off on her left side.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Francine Villeneuve, a popular former jockey in Ontario, passed away June 5 after a long battle with cancer at age 61.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Villeneuve won 1,000 races in Canada and the United States and her mounts earned nearly $15.5 million (U.S.). Among her stakes-winning rides were Bison City winner Wilderness Song, the runner-up to Dance Smartly in the 1991 Queen’s Plate, Twist the Snow, Moon Mist, Copper Trail, and Wholelottabourbon.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Chad Brown already has a top filly in the 3-year-old division in Always a Runner, the undefeated winner of the Kentucky Oaks. 

Brown has another top-level 3-year-old filly in Directive, who, once she figures things out, could be a factor in Grade 1 stakes as well. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Katie Davis, who hit her head on the side of the gate prior to the start of Thursday’s fourth race, which required her to be removed from the track on a stretcher and taken to Albany Medical Center, was back in the saddle Friday where she rode 54-1 shot Luz de Guia to a third-place finish in the first race. 

“I think it might have knocked some sense in me a little bit,” Davis joked after the race. “I felt strong riding him.” 

Davis said after she got released from the hospital Thursday evening, her mother put poultice on the back of her head. 

Tommy Jo, a two-time Grade 1 winning 2-year-old filly of 2025, is getting closer to her 3-year-old debut, which, provided all goes well, will take place in the Grade 3, $225,000 Victory Ride Stakes here on July 10. 

On Friday, Tommy Jo worked a half-mile in 47.90 seconds, the second-fastest of 52 works at the distance and her third breeze since returning to trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn earlier this year. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While the connections of Tawny Port ponder a start in the Melbourne Cup in November, there are plenty of domestic races on the agenda for the 7-year-old who won Thursday’s Belmont Gold Cup by 2 1/2 lengths. 

Trainer Miguel Clement said the Grade 1, $750,000 Christophe Clement, previously known as the Sword Dancer, on Aug. 15, is an obviously target. The race was renamed in honor of Miguel Clement’s father who passed away in May 2025. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The two-time Grade 1 winner Scottish Lassie returns to the races Sunday in a second-level allowance race going seven furlongs at Saratoga. 

At 2, Scottish Lassie won the Grade 1 Frizette at Aqueduct by nine lengths as a second-time starter. At 3, Scottish Lassie won the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks by 15 1/2 lengths here, a race that changed greatly when La Cara, the Acorn winner, was scratched the morning of the race. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockeys Manny Franco and Flavien Prat had four-win days at Saratoga on Thursday, accounting for eight of the 11 races.

Franco, 31, won the fifth race on Medici Road ($23.58), the sixth race on Careless Whisper ($4.62), the seventh on Right to Vote ($7.34), and the ninth on Magnanimous Max ($7.90).

Thursday’s program was the third time this year he has won at least four races in a day. He won four races at Aqueduct on March 20 and six races there on Feb. 12.