Rising star Nitrogen back to turf in G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational
At 0h15, on July 5, 2025 • By Saratoga
D.J. Stable’s Kentucky homebred Nitrogen will look to extend her win streak to six in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational, a nine-furlong Mellon turf test for sophomore fillies on Day Three of the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
The Belmont Oaks Invitational is slated as Race 11 on the 12-race card which also features the Grade 3, $175,000 Sanford in Race 3 and the Grade 3, $175,000 Kelso in Race 10. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern. Statistics for the 37-day Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet will include the July 4th Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Nitrogen has banked in excess of $1.1 million via an 8-5-1-2 record. The Medaglia d’Oro bay was twice Grade 1-placed as a 2-year-old, finishing third in both the Natalma at Woodbine and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.
Nitrogen [post 7, Jose Ortiz] is a perfect 5-for-5 this year.
Nitrogen worked back a half-mile in 52.65 on June 23 over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training turf.
“She worked easy,” Casse said. “We’ve got her in a pattern where she’s been running every four or five weeks and she’s extremely happy. I don’t do much with her in between and it seems to work.”
