Mark Casse already has a stranglehold on the older and three-year-old filly divisions, and now Pierette is poised to give the dual Hall of Famer a serious player among the juveniles as she ships into Saratoga for the Adirondack Stakes. The $225,000 Adirondack, a 6 1/2-furlong grade 3 on Aug. 2, will be Pierette's first start away from Churchill Downs and her graded debut, a natural next step after two professional wins to open her career. For handicappers, the race doubles as a proving ground: if Pierette handles the Spa and the stretch-out in trip, she immediately enters the early conversation for the two-year-old filly championship and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Pierette arrives unbeaten in two starts, both sprinting on the Churchill dirt, and has yet to be seriously threatened in the afternoon. According to Equibase data cited by America's Best Racing, she broke her maiden there on May 15, stalking the pace in a five-furlong maiden special weight before drawing off to win by 1 3/4 lengths. She returned on closing day, June 28, in the six-furlong Debutante Stakes and produced a similar stalking trip, edging away late to score by 1 1/2 lengths and boost her earnings to $203,741 while remaining undefeated. That performance vaulted Pierette to second in Equibase's 2-year-old filly rankings and convinced Casse and owner Tracy Farmer that the time was right to test graded company at Saratoga.
BloodHorse reports that Pierette, a high-priced yearling buy for Farmer, has impressed Casse with her professionalism and willingness to relax off the pace despite naturally quick gate speed, an asset in a juvenile division often dominated by pure speed types. Her Churchill efforts showed a filly who can sit just behind the leaders, switch off, and then reengage when asked, rather than one-dimensional speed that risks getting cooked in a hot Adirondack pace scenario. With Jose Ortiz already familiar with her from the Debutante and riding in top form at Saratoga, Pierette figures to get a patient, ground-saving trip that allows her to make one sustained run, a pattern Casse has successfully deployed with many of his better young sprinters transitioning into graded stakes company.
While Pierette is trying to announce herself, Nitrogen has already done plenty of talking on the racetrack and now takes aim at history in the Whitney Stakes. TrueNicks and the Times Union note that Nitrogen's rise began when the Wonder Again Stakes was rained off the turf in 2025 and Casse elected to keep her in, resulting in a 17-length demolition that revealed a monster on the Saratoga dirt. She parlayed that into a dominant win in the Alabama Stakes later that meet and has since built a perfect 3-for-3 record over the Spa main track, capped by a 12 3/4-length romp in this year's Ogden Phipps in which she finished just three-tenths of a second off the track record for 1 1/8 miles while geared down late. Nitrogen has been kept sharp with a series of strong half-mile breezes, including a 47.84 drill on July 5 and a :47.60 move on July 19 that topped the tab, and Casse has been explicit in multiple interviews that he believes she belongs with the boys in the $1 million Whitney on Aug. 8.
Counting Stars, meanwhile, has become the standard bearer among three-year-old fillies after back-to-back grade 1 wins at Saratoga that firmly stamped her as divisional leader. The Paulick Report and OBS recap her authoritative victory in the Acorn Stakes on June 5, where she sat just off the pace and powered clear to defeat Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner by 3 3/4 lengths over the same 1 1/8-mile Saratoga strip. She returned on July 25 for the Coaching Club American Oaks and proved the Acorn was no fluke, once again turning away Always a Runner and drawing off by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:48.98 while paying a modest $4.06 to win. Forbes reports that Counting Stars now owns six victories from ten career starts, has earned more than $1.6 million, and has put herself squarely on a path toward the Breeders' Cup Distaff and year-end championship honors.
Casse has been effusive about Counting Stars' development, telling the Daily Racing Form that he was impressed with her CCA Oaks performance and pointing to the historic Alabama Stakes as her next objective, a logical target given her proven stamina at 1 1/8 miles and affinity for the Saratoga dirt. TrueNicks quoted the trainer and her connections describing her condition after the CCA Oaks as “unbelievable,” suggesting she exited the race with ample energy left for the remainder of the meet. That fits her workout pattern: she has been kept fit but not overtaxed, with a strong five-furlong breeze in 1:00.31 and a robust gallop-out reported in early July, signaling a filly who can both quicken and sustain a long drive. From a handicapper's standpoint, Counting Stars has evolved into the quintessential Saratoga router—tactical speed, a high cruising pace, and the ability to finish with authority even after pressing solid fractions.
Put together, Nitrogen, Counting Stars, and Pierette give Casse something rare in modern racing: legitimate title contenders in the older mare, three-year-old filly, and two-year-old filly divisions simultaneously, all with proven or potential affinity for Saratoga. Nitrogen's willingness to tackle males in the Whitney recalls the lofty ambitions connections once reserved for legends like Personal Ensign, the last filly to win the race back in 1988, underscoring just how confident Casse is in her ability. Counting Stars looks poised to control the classic filly route division through the Alabama and into the Breeders' Cup, while Pierette, if she handles the Adirondack, could be on a traditional path through races like the Spinaway and other fall preps toward the Juvenile Fillies. For bettors sizing up Saratoga's stakes calendar, the takeaway is clear: any distaff race involving a Casse filly demands long, hard scrutiny of the pace scenario and race shape, because this trio has already shown the ability to dominate their respective divisions and could turn the meet into a showcase of one barn's depth on the female side.
