Casse Duo La Cara & Nitrogen Meet Kentucky Oaks Winner Good Cheer in Alabama

[Wandering Eyes]

Who's the current leader of the 3-year-old filly division?

Featuring a rubber match between GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) and two-time GISW La Cara (Street Sense), we'll have our answer following a fantastic renewal of Saturday's GI Alabama S. at Saratoga.

Good Cheer made it a perfect seven-for-seven for trainer Brad Cox with a powerful win on the first Friday in May, but never factored as the 1-4 favorite, finishing a lackluster fifth in the GI Acorn S. in the Saratoga slop June 6.

The Godolphin homebred, listed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite, will face five rivals in the 1 1/4-mile feature.

“She's doing great,” said Blake Cox, assistant trainer to his father. “She was perfect until the Acorn and we can't really come up with an excuse–maybe the racetrack, I guess, but you could tell she wasn't traveling well throughout the race, so we'll give her one more shot here going a mile and a quarter. She should like it, and we've given her plenty of time. She's done well up here, so fingers crossed we get her back in the win column.”

They'll all have to catch La Cara. The aforementioned Acorn was won in front-running fashion by the Tracy Farmer homebred, who also wired the GI Central Bank Ashland S. at Keeneland Apr. 7. Those two efforts bookended a speed-and-fade ninth-place finish behind Good Cheer in the Kentucky Oaks.

La Cara | Sarah Andrew

Hall of Famer Mark Casse will also saddle Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro). A four-time stakes winner on grass, the D. J. Stable homebred romped by 17 lengths facing just two rivals in the off-the-turf GIII Wonder Again S. in the Saratoga slop June 7, her lone career attempt on dirt. Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf third-place finisher just missed by a nose in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. at the Spa July 5.

“I've been watching the Alabama since I was eight, and to have two legitimate chances,” Casse said. “I think it's not set in stone, but this race is going to be a big deciding factor in who's going to be champion 3-year-old filly. Obviously, someone can go on and win the Breeders' Cup and that would trump whatever happens in the Alabama, but we'll have a clear-cut leader once the dust is settled.”

Saturday's graded stakes action also includes the GI Del Mar Oaks, headed by 8-5 morning-line favorite Thought Process (Collected); and the GIII Philip H. Iselin S. at Monmouth Park, led by 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense).

For a closer look at Saturday's King's Plate card at Woodbine, including the 'Win and You're In' GI E. P. Taylor S., click here.

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