Claret Beret Upsets Nitrogen in Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn

Claret Beret turned Oaklawn’s signature filly-and-mare test into a statement race, running down champion Nitrogen and drawing off to win the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:42.21. Under Micah Husbands, the 5-year-old mare paid $19.60, rewarded a crowd estimated at 40,000, and secured a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Distaff later this year.

The upset came with a clear tactical edge. Husbands kept Claret Beret within striking range while the pace unfolded in :23.70, :46.87 and 1:10.86, then asked her to go as the field turned for home. By the top of the stretch, she had seized control and never looked back, while Nitrogen, the 2025 champion 3-year-old filly, could only keep coming without getting any closer. Majestic Oops finished third, leaving the race essentially a two-horse showdown for the win.

That shape mattered. Claret Beret was the stalking type with the right kind of speed, and Oaklawn’s 1 1/16-mile setup rewarded the mare who could move before the deep closers. Nitrogen, who had gone off as the marquee name in the race, was forced to chase a rival who was already traveling better by the critical three-eighths pole. Jose L. Ortiz said he had a “pretty clean trip out of the one-hole” and “felt like my filly was running, but I wasn’t able to make up any ground.”

For Claret Beret, the victory was more than a Grade 1 breakthrough. It was her first top-level win, lifting her career line to 19 starts with a 7-1-3 record and $1,115,834 in earnings for Miller Racing LLC. Bred in Kentucky by Mitch Haynes and by Not This Time, she has now paired grade-level consistency with a signature performance against one of the division’s most established names. The race also sharpened the value of her resume in breeding terms, especially with Not This Time continuing to stand among the sport’s most sought-after sires.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said the plan was patience and timing, noting, “Claret was three wide and I just wanted Micah to be a little patient and he was.” He added, “I thought she did it as good as you could ask.” Husbands, who celebrated his first Grade 1 win in North America, said he was “loaded by the three-eighths” and was trying “not move too early.”

The bigger question now is whether this was a one-race ambush or the start of a real shift among elite mares. Nitrogen’s credentials remain intact, but the Apple Blossom exposed a vulnerability: when forced into a race against a mare with tactical speed and finishing power, the champion is not untouchable. Claret Beret’s time was the fastest Apple Blossom since Havre de Grace’s 1:42.19 in 2011, and that kind of clock, paired with a Distaff ticket to Keeneland, makes this feel like more than an upset. It looks like a new force has entered the conversation.