Fionn upsets Nitrogen to win Belmont Oaks at Saratoga
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Fionn turned the tables on Nitrogen in the $500,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational at Saratoga on Saturday and became a Grade 1 winner. In doing so she ended the five-race win streak of second-place Nitrogen.
The outer-turf ourse was extremely fast all day long, and the Brad Cox-trainee produced a course record 1:44.84 for the 1 1/8-mile distance.
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At 19-1 Opulent Restraint broke from the post position 2 and went right to the lead closest to the rail with urging from Joel Rosario. The 2-5 favorite Nitrogen ran from the farthest outside post in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies and settled in third for the first six furlongs of the race. Totally Justified was closest to the leader.
Fionn was sent off as the 6-1 second choice in the betting and was ridden by Flavien Prat. who would end up with his fifth winner of the day. The daughter of Twirling Candy settled in a comfortable fifth-place position while the horses in front of her laid down fast fractions of 23.12, 46.75 and 1:10.10.
“Flavien let her get some early position, which I think was good,” Cox said. “He kind of kept Nitrogen in sight. I thought that was key. Going up the backside, when they threw up the 46 and change, I thought we have something to run into here.”
Going around the final turn Fionn moved to the three path. Totally Justified began to fade, setting up a stretch duel between Opulent Restraint and Nitrogen who was just to the outside. Those two were separated by a nose as Prat gave his horse a clear run while keeping the other two on the inside.
Nitrogen was able to get by Opulent Restraint, but the stretch duel took its toll on the two of them. Fionn had all the momentum coming from 4 1/2 lengths behind. She got by Nitrogen in the final strides to win by just a nose. Opulent Restraint finished third, three-quarters of a length behind the top two.
“I had a great trip,” Prat said. “She broke well, and I was able to follow Nitrogen. Dream trip, and she really dug in. Turning for home I felt like we would be third, maybe second, and the more I asked, the more she gave. Great effort.”
Along with Grade 1 status, Fionn added $275,000 to lift her career earnings to $624,270 and get her supporters payouts of $14.40, $4.00 and $3.30 for win, place and show. The $2 exacta paid $31.30, and the $2 trifecta returned $205.50.
Nitrogen, who is trained by Mark Casse, had won all five of her starts in 2025 including four graded stakes. She defeated Fionn by 2 1/4 lengths in April at Keeneland in the Appalachian (G2).
“(José Ortiz) said when he asked her, she responded, but the other filly kind of had the momentum on her,” Casse said. “He felt like he had the horse on the lead all the time.”
Casse and the owners from DJ Stable had planned to run Nitrogen in the Alabama (G1) on the main track at Saratoga on Aug. 16.
“I said going in whether we win, lose or whatever, we have to go to the Alabama, probably more so now,” Casse said. “She ran well.”
Fionn made her seventh career start, all on turf. She is likely to stay at Saratoga to continue onto the second leg of the turf triple for fillies in the Aug. 9 Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G2).
“It is back in around four weeks, so we’ll let her come out of it and see how she moves for it in the next few weeks,” Cox said. “She will definitely stay here, but that would be the logical spot.”