Nitrogen Beats Fully Subscribed to Win the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland

Nitrogen won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Saturday, October 31, beating Fully Subscribed by two lengths in the race she had finished second in a year earlier.

The 4-year-old filly, sent off as the 3-5 favorite, sat third behind the early leader Super Corredora, moved up on the turn and held off Fully Subscribed in the stretch. She covered 1 1/8 miles on dirt in 1:48.90 under jockey Jose Ortiz and paid $3.58 on a $2 win bet. Fully Subscribed finished second, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Measure in third, in a field of seven.

How the race was run

Super Corredora, last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner, set the pace through a quarter mile in 23.57 seconds and a half mile in 47.04. Nitrogen and Fully Subscribed both raced behind her, and the two favorites turned the race into a duel in the stretch, just as most previews had expected.

Thoroughbred Daily News reported that Nitrogen moved off the turn as Fully Subscribed drew almost level, then pulled clear while drifting out. Fully Subscribed switched to the inside and kept second. Measure, also trained by Mark Casse, passed Super Corredora late to take third.

One better than last year

Nitrogen finished second to Scylla in this race last year, at the end of a season that made her champion 3-year-old filly. Saturday's win took her career record to 10 wins, 6 seconds and 3 thirds from 19 starts, with earnings of more than $4 million. She has never finished outside the first three.

She is a homebred for D. J. Stable, trained by Mark Casse and a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro out of the mare Tiffany Case, by Uncle Mo. She began her racing career on turf before becoming one of the best dirt fillies in North America.

The win was the second Breeders' Cup victory of the day for Ortiz, who had earlier won the Filly and Mare Turf on Kathynmarissa.

The road to Keeneland

Nitrogen beat Fully Subscribed by 12 3/4 lengths in the Ogden Phipps Stakes at Saratoga on June 5. She then ran second against male horses to Sovereignty, the reigning Horse of the Year, in the Whitney Stakes on August 8. Her final prep was a front-running win by 2 3/4 lengths in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on September 25.

Fully Subscribed, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat, arrived on a three-race winning streak of her own. Since the Ogden Phipps she had won the Personal Ensign Stakes on August 29 and the Spinster Stakes over this track and distance on October 4. On Saturday she closed the gap on Nitrogen from June, but she could not get past her.

Casse had sounded confident before the race. "We're really happy with where she's at right now," he told BloodHorse. The Distaff result backed him up, and it gave Nitrogen the Breeders' Cup win that had got away from her as a 3-year-old.