Eclipse Award champion Nitrogen returns in Grade 3 Bayakoa at Oaklawn

Nitrogen, the reigning Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old filly and a Sovereign Award winner at 2, will kick off her 4-year-old campaign in Saturday’s Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park, drawing post 7 as the 4-5 morning-line favorite in a seven-horse field. The 1 1/16-mile dirt test on the rescheduled, stakes-heavy card offers a $250,000 purse and an early-season measuring stick for one of North America’s most accomplished fillies.

Trainer Mark Casse has kept Nitrogen on a deliberate path back to the racetrack. Nitrogen resumed training in late November, shipped to Oaklawn Jan. 11, and posted a five-furlong bullet in 1:00 on Jan. 17. Casse said, “Her last work at Oaklawn was really good - galloped out strong. It would have been nice to have one more breeze, but she’s ready.” Nitrogen enters with a career record of 12 starts, 6-4-2, and earnings of $2,046,604, and is owned and homebred by D J Stable, led by Jon and Leonard Green. The filly is by Medaglia d’Oro, a sire with historical Oaklawn ties who broke his maiden at Oaklawn in 2002 and won the 2003 Oaklawn Handicap.

Quietside carries the strongest paper profile among the opposition. The John Ed Anthony homebred was a two-time Oaklawn stakes winner in 2025, taking the Honeybee (G3) and Fantasy (G2) at 1 1/16 miles and comes in off a second in the Comely (G3) at Aqueduct. Oaklawn listed Quietside at 3-1 on the morning line. Handicappers have weighed the matchup differently. Brian Zipse wrote, “In the Bayakoa, I recognize Nitrogen as the most likely winner. She is the class of the race and the champion has been working well after a brief freshening. But how low will her odds be on Saturday? Meanwhile, Quietside will be making her third start off a layoff and seems to be coming up to this race the right way. It’s hard to ignore her two graded-stakes victories when last seen at Oaklawn. Because of the chasm in odds, Quietside is my top pick in the Bayakoa.” Matt Shifman offered a counterpoint, “Short odds or not, Nitrogen was such an impressive filly last year and never ran a bad race. The gap between her and the others is probably too much to overcome. Her ownership group of D J Stable is led by my New Jersey acquaintances Len and Jon Green. Nitrogen is my Bayakoa top pick.”

Other entrants named for the Bayakoa include Miss Authentic, trained by Eddie Kenneally; Peignoir, fourth in the Pippin Stakes; Rose Palace, winner of last year’s Lapatourel Overnight at Oaklawn; and In Just My Heels, Ron Moquett’s 5-year-old mare who was third in the Pippin. Oaklawn reports a seven-horse field but the supplied entries leave the identity of one starter unlisted; final program and jockey confirmations should clarify the remaining runner and any mount changes. Oaklawn’s notes also carry a present-tense ambiguity about jockey Jose Ortiz, who is explicitly named as Nitrogen’s regular rider but is also referenced in connection with Quietside’s past Oaklawn victories; race-day charts will settle the mounts.

The Bayakoa headlines an 11-race card that begins at noon Central, with a probable post of 4:13 p.m. local for Race 9. The weekend itself is the product of a winter-storm reschedule that closed Oaklawn’s training track for nine days Jan. 24–Feb. 1 and consolidated multiple stakes into a single, richer weekend. The reshuffled slate, which includes the Southwest and the rescheduled American Beauty, concentrates purses and early-year stakes opportunities that matter to owners, trainers and bettors mapping campaigns toward the Triple Crown and summer festivals.

For fans and bettors, the Bayakoa provides a frontier moment: Nitrogen’s first start at 4 and a return to Oaklawn where her sire left a legacy; Quietside’s attempt to translate local dominance into a score against a bona fide champion; and an industry-level signal about how rescheduling and weather scrappling affect prep cycles and wagering markets. The race will be a barometer for Nitrogen’s ability to carry last year’s form into a new season and for Oaklawn’s intensified early-year stakes structure to shape 2026 campaigns.