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Nitrogen will make her next start in the Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont Park on Friday, Sept. 25, Thoroughbred Daily News reports.
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The champion 3-year-old filly of 2025 returns to filly and mare competition after a runner-up effort to reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty in the G1 Whitney at Saratoga. The 1 ⅛-mile Beldame is part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen bonus series.
A planned start in the G2 Locust Grove at Churchill Downs on Saturday, Sept. 12, was scrapped due to a heat wave in Kentucky. Owner Jon Green of D. J. Stable told TDN that the Mark Casse trainee will breeze on the Belmont Park main track this weekend.
“Our end game with Nitrogen is for her to win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff,” Green told TDN. “Keeping that end game in mind, we have decided to run her in the Beldame. Jose Ortiz has committed to riding her, and we’re excited about a two-race series against horses in her own division.”
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In five starts this year, Nitrogen has not finished outside of the top three. She began her campaign with a victory in the G3 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park, then finished second in the G2 Azeri Stakes and third in the G1 Apple Blossom, both also at Oaklawn. She won the G1 Ogden Phipps by 12 ¾ lengths in June at Saratoga before her run in the Whitney.
Ortiz was aboard for the first four starts, but took off to ride G1 Dubai World Cup and G1 Stephen Foster winner Magnitude in the Whitney.
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Read more at thoroughbreddailynews.com.
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This story was originally published September 11, 2026 at 10:44 AM.