By Bill Finley
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse has announced that his champion filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) will make her next start in the GII Fasig-Tipton Locust Grove Stakes at Churchill Downs Sept. 12. The original plan had been to run the GI Whitney Stakes runner-up in the Oct. 4 GI Spinster Stakes at Keeneland.
“The more [DJ Stable General Manager] Jon Green and I looked at it, we thought the timing of this race was better for her,” Casse said. “Obviously, our biggest goal is the Breeders' Cup. This gives her a little more time between that race and the Breeders' Cup. We originally said we would run her in the Spinster, but looking at her patterns and where and how she runs her best, the Locust Grove seemed to make more sense.
“She already has a race at Keeneland [a win in the GII Appalachian Stakes on the turf], so it's not like she hasn't run there. This is more about timing.”
Casse said Nitrogen came out of the Whitney in “fantastic shape.”
“I got emotional after the Whitney and I didn't understand why I was so emotional,” Casse said. “I don't listen to handicappers and stuff, but a couple days prior to the race a guy that is pretty well known said that he wouldn't be surprised if she were to run last. To that point, that had never entered my mind. Now, this is my child. I worried if I were putting her in a place where I might embarrass her. That thought never occurred to me and then it was in my mind. When she ran so well, I was relieved.
“In the NTRA poll, she went from ninth to second after the race. That tells you something. If we had run her in the Shuvee and won, she would have stayed at ninth.”
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