Raging Sea left them in her wake in La Trionne. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Nitrogen works on Oklahoma turf for G2 Wonder Again
Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Notes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown sent out Raging Sea and Randomized for a half-mile breeze Friday over the Oklahoma dirt training track to prepare for next Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps presented by Ford, a nine-furlong test for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga Race Course.
The Ogden Phipps offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at Del Mar, which Raging Sea was second in last year to eventual Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna and Randomized was second in 2023 to dual Champion Older Dirt Mare Idiomatic.
The classy pair worked in company, with Randomized to the inside of Raging Sea, covering the half-mile in 49.66 seconds on the fast dirt.
“They went great in their work and are on schedule,” said Brown. “They are doing super. They’ve been training good and looked good.”
Alpha Delta Stables’ Kentucky homebred Raging Sea is seven for her last nine, including a last-out three-quarter length score in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 La Troienne on May 2 at Churchill Downs. That was the 5-year-old Curlin chestnut’s second career Grade 1 triumph, adding to a head victory over Idiomatic in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Personal Ensign in August here.
Klaravich Stables’ Randomized, who was a pacesetting third last out in the La Troienne, also boasts two Grade 1 victories. The 5-year-old Nyquist bay captured last year’s Ogden Phipps by a head over Idiomatic, as well as the 2023 Alabama here – both in front-running fashion.
G1 winners RAGING SEA (outside) and RANDOMIZED worked a half-mile in 49.66 seconds over the Oklahoma this morning. Full note with quotes from trainer Chad Brown here: https://t.co/rfRp3WJgoS pic.twitter.com/dPT2nE3Gm1
— Mary Eddy (@singmysongbird) May 30, 2025
Brown agreed Raging Sea’s late turn-of-foot and Randomized’s usual frontrunning tactics should once again complement each other.
“I would think so,” said Brown. “I think Randomized should really move forward off of her last race. In the past, she’s acted like she needed that one race to get going.”
In Randomized’s second start of summer 2023, she captured the restricted Wilton at the Spa. Her past campaign included a second off-the-layoff victory in the Ogden Phipps after a second in the Grade 2 Ruffian to subsequent Champion Female Sprinter Soul of an Angel at Belmont at the Big A.
Fellow Brown-trained Grade 1-winners on the dirt tab Friday at the Spa included Chancer McPatrick breezing a half-mile in 48.55 seconds on the main track and Spirit of St Louis going the same distance in 49.66 on the Oklahoma.
Brown’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes-contender Hill Road worked a half-mile in 49 flat Friday over the Belmont Park dirt training track.
Nitrogen works on Oklahoma turf for G2 Wonder Again
D.J. Stable’s multiple graded stakes-winning homebred Nitrogen worked Friday over Saratoga Race Course’s Oklahoma turf training track in preparation for the Grade 2, $300,000 Wonder Again on Belmont Stakes Day June 7.
Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the Medaglia d’Oro bay and last-out winner of the Grade 2 Edgewood at Churchill Downs worked solo for Casse but hooked up with the pair of Deterministic and Carson’s Run for conditioner Miguel Clement, the triad coming down the lane together with Nitrogen on the outside.
Shane Tripp, Casse’s New York assistant, said the team is pleased with the way Nitrogen breezed.
“Those horses broke off in front of her and that’s all she needed to work as well as she did,” Tripp said. “The turf course is perfect today.”
Nitrogen boasts a four-race win streak that began with a stylish graduation in the Listed Ginger Brew in January at Gulfstream Park. She went on to win the Grade 3 Florida Oaks in March at Tampa Bay Downs and the Grade 2 Appalachian in April at Keeneland ahead of her dominant 3 1/2-length Edgewood score.
Tripp said Nitrogen has settled into Saratoga well.
“She’s been great,” Tripp said. “She’s the kind you dream to be around – she does everything right, she’s good to train, has a good mind, and is a good-doer. We’re excited for next weekend.”
Nitrogen is out of the stakes-placed Uncle Mo mare Tiffany Case, who also produced multiple graded stakes-placed Love to Shop.
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