Nitrogen sits the trip and takes the BC Distaff, Breeders’ Cup Photo
A well-beaten runner-up a year ago, Nitrogen was not to denied Saturday in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland.
While Nitrogen did not blow away the field as she had done at times during her brilliant career, the 3-5 favorite rolled to a handy two-length victory over Fully Subscribed. Measured was another 2 ¼ lengths back in third.
Never worse than third in 19 career starts, earned her 10th victory. The D.J. Stable homebred was a Sovereign Award winner in Canada as a 2-year-old. She added the 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award to her resume in 2025, during a campaign when Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse switched her from turf to dirt. With four wins from seven starts this season, and a good second to Sovereignty in the Whitney (G1) against males she is in position to claim another Eclipse Award.
“She’s up there. She’s special,” Casse said. “To be so good on the turf and the dirt is just amazing. She amazes me.”
Jockey Jose Ortiz orchestrated a solid trip in the 1 1/8 miles Distaff, putting the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro in a comfortable stalking position from the outside. He moved Nitrogen into contention on the second turn, swept past the early pacesetters Super Corredora and Eunomia and had a 1 ½ length lead at the top of the stretch. Fully Subscribed, the 3-2 second choice in the wagering, was in pursuit on the turn and though Nitrogen drifted in the stretch, could not close the gap.
Super Corredora set the early fractions of :23.57, :47.04 and 1:11.22 and Ortiz was content to sit a couple of lengths back, three paths off the rail.
“I thought she would be a little closer to be honest. But I could see Jose ask her,” Casse said. “It takes her a second to kind of kick in but she’s something.”
Nitrogen reached the wire in 1:49.80 and paid $3.58, $2.40 and $2.10.
Casse said he wasn’t concerned about the drifting in the stretch.
“That’s her,” he said. “She does that every race. I think she loves the crowd.”
Ortiz said he was pleased with the performance.
“She felt great,” Ortiz said. “She broke well, let me put her in a good position, and she relaxed. When I asked her to go, she was full of run.”
Ortiz said he wasn’t too worried about Fully Subscribed as the race developed.
“I saw [Fully Subscribed] behind me at the three-eighths pole. I drifted out a little bit in the stretch. She has a tendency to do that. But it seemed like I was clear.”
Casse said it was quite likely that Nitrogen will return for her 5-year-old season in 2027.
“That was one of the factors in the decision to go to the Distaff versus the Classic,” he said. “We wanted to get her a Breeders’ Cup win and we’ll probably take a different path next year which will include going against some colts.”
Fully Subscribed’s trainer Chad Brown was satisfied with the way his filly ran under Flavien Prat.
“We were talking about the trip (with Prat) and he rode her exactly the way I wanted him to,” Brown said. “I didn’t want him to cut the corner and try to beat her that way. I wanted to come on the right side of her. My idea was that if we were traveling well on the first turn, which we did, and Jose chose to go outside and lose ground early and ride his filly with confidence, then maybe on the second turn, we could afford to lose a little ground and come on the right side of her.
“It’s no secret (Nitrogen) lugs out and such, I just felt my filly has been winning races out in the center of the track going by horses in the right lane. I don’t want to get cute and cut the corner, then I get in a fight with a filly who’s way out in the middle of the track way away from me. Sometimes saying all the ground is a shorter way home, but sometimes your horse isn’t really reaching fifth gear, either. I’m very pleased with the ride and the trip—she just was second-best. I’m happy we closed the margin from the (Ogden) Phipps (G1) and my filly was a much better opponent for Nitrogen today, but she still fell short of what it takes to beat her.”
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