Fionn Upsets Nitrogen, Wins Belmont Oaks by a Nose

Technically speaking, the $500,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) was part of the Belmont at the Big A meet or the July 4th Racing Festival. Take your pick. But it was contested at Saratoga Race Course, so you know what that can mean for a filly like Nitrogen, who was a 2-5 favorite in the mile-and-an-eighth Belmont Oaks. Yep, another odds-on favorite went down to defeat in a graded stakes at the Spa as George Messina and Michael Lee's Fionn caught Nitrogen in the final stride to capture the July 5 stakes for 3-year-old fillies in track record time on the blazing fast Mellon Turf Course. "She stepped up and ran big today," trainer Brad Cox said about the daughter of Twirling Candy who was coming off a win in the Regret Stakes (G3T) at Churchill Downs and has won five of her last six starts. "I thought Nitrogen might have to stub her toes for us to beat her, but I think we beat her fair and square. She needed the whole mile and an eighth to get by her, but she got there." For Nitrogen, the loss snapped a streak of five straight wins, three of them in graded turf stakes. But trainer Mark Casse said he still has his sights set on the Aug. 16 Alabama Stakes (G1) on dirt. In her previous start, Nitrogen won the Wonder Again Stakes (G3) on a sloppy track at the Spa in her dirt debut by 17 lengths. "She ran hard. I said going into this race, whether we win or lose, we have to go to the Alabama. Probably more so now," Casse said. As for Fionn, she probably will return Aug. 9 in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes (G2T), the second of three summer turf stakes for fillies. "We'll let her come out of this and see if she moves forward over the next few weeks," Cox said. "That would be the logical spot." The victory avenged Fionn's lone loss in her last six starts when she finished third behind the victorious Nitrogen in the April 8 Appalachian Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland. "She was a little bit of a problem child early as a 2-year-old. We got her started in Indiana and then after a really good race there (a second), we gave her a break to reset her mind. She had a great winter at the Fair Grounds (three straight wins) and then got graded stakes placed at Keeneland and got a great stakes win at Churchill that was big," Cox said. "Now this is as good as it gets." Stephanie Seymour Brant's Opulent Restraint (IRE) set the pace in the Belmont Oaks, leading by two lengths over Nitrogen in :23.12 and :46.75. Nitrogen made her move from second approaching the quarter pole but did not motor to the front as expected. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro remained locked in a duel with Opulent Restraint until the final furlong when she slowly edged clear from her rival. But at the same time, Flavien Prat had moved Fionn ($14.40) up from fifth in the field of seven while tipping five wide in the stretch. About 2 1/2 lengths behind the top two at the eighth pole, the $6.20-1 second choice closed stoutly to collar Nitrogen by a nose and record another classic Spa upset. Prat won five races Saturday, including the Sanford Stakes (G3) on Obliteration. Final time for the 1 1/8 miles was a scintillating 1:44.84, breaking the track record of 1:45.06 set by In Italian (GB) in 2022. D. J. Stable's Nitrogen, who now has a second and two thirds in three tries in grade 1 company, finished second by three-quarters of a length over Opulent Restraint, a daughter of Dubawi (IRE) trained by Chad Brown. Bred by Dixiana Farms out of the Giant's Causeway mare Gaelic Gold, Fionn was bought for $75,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from her breeder's consignment. She is the first of her dam's four foals, which also includes a 2-year-old Essential Quality colt named Essential Storm, a Connect yearling colt, and a 2025 Jackie's Warrior colt. The Belmont Oaks marked the second graded victory on the day for progeny by Twirling Candy, who was represented earlier on the Saratoga card by Think Big, who won the Kelso Stakes (G3T). The stallion has been represented this year by Jaipur Stakes (G1T) winner Ag Bullet, and graded winners Two Sharp and Taking Candy. Twirling Candy stood the 2025 season for $60,000 at Lane's End in Kentucky. Business more than doubles for NYRA at Saratoga The New York Racing Association continued to post dramatically higher handle figures for this year's initial stay at Saratoga as opposed to last year's comparable July 4 week numbers at Aqueduct Racetrack. Saturday's attendance was 15,067, but the all-sources handle reached $26,097,672. That was virtually $14 million higher than the figure at the Big A for the Saturday of July 4 week in 2024. In three days of racing at the Spa (July 3-5), the July 4th Racing Festival has accounted for a combined all-sources handle of $65,955,443, more than double last year's three-day total of $29,071,659. The 2025 July 4th Racing Festival concludes July 6 and the Spa's 40-day summer meet officially opens July 10.