Nitrogen Towers Over Azeri Field

Trainer Mark Casse was originally targeting the March 7 Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park for champion Nitrogen's 4-year-old debut. But the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, who took down 3-year-old filly honors for her stellar campaign last year, was giving the dual Hall of Fame trainer signs she wasn't satisfied by merely blowing off steam in her morning training. Taking his cue from the D. J. Stable homebred, Casse entered her in Oaklawn's Feb. 7 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) and the filly responded with a 2 3/4-length victory over five rivals as the odds-on favorite. With that race under her girth, Nitrogen is among seven older fillies and mares entered in the 1 1/16-mile Azeri with her regular rider, Jose Ortiz, in the saddle. She is the 4/5 morning-line favorite. "I was pretty nervous about running her (in the Bayakoa) because I just wasn't sure that I had done enough with her. I think it might have been one of the best races she's ever run. Number-wise, it is," Casse said March 3. "She amazed me while I was in the winner's circle. I'm looking at her, and I figured that she would have been having a good blow, and she would be very tired. She was like, 'OK, is that all I needed to do?'" A graded stakes winner on both dirt and turf, Nitrogen received an Equibase Speed Figure of 113 in the Bayakoa, her highest rating in a dirt race. As part of her 2025 highlight reel, Nitrogen won five stakes on turf—four in graded company—each at a different racetrack, before capturing one of North America's most prestigious races for 3-year-old fillies on the dirt, the Alabama Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. She concluded her season with runner-up finishes on dirt in the Spinster Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). The $400,000 Azeri is a prep for Oaklawn's April 11 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), a race that Casse is targeting with Nitrogen. Casse has also entered Tracy Farmer's homebred La Cara, a two-time grade 1 winner during her 3-year-old campaign. The front-runner finished a well-beaten fourth behind Nitrogen in the Alabama Stakes. Nitrogen's most formidable foe appears to be the Dan Ward-trained Majestic Oops. The grade 1-placed runner has an affinity for Oaklawn as evidenced by her three wins at the Hot Springs, Ark., track, including a comfortable victory in the 6-furlong American Beauty Stakes last month. The grade 1-placed Quietside was no match for Nitrogen in the Bayakoa, finishing third, 9 lengths behind the winner. The Shortleaf Stable homebred, trained by John Ortiz, hasn't won a race in four starts since taking Oaklawn's Fantasy Stakes (G2) 11 months ago. The Malibu Moon filly also won the Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park as part of a 3-year-old campaign that started off very promising, but lacked oomph later in the season. Other entries include Standoutsensation, who has been in strong form as of late, winning two of three starts in stakes company; and last year's Delaware Handicap (G3) winner, Regaled, who finished third in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.