Fully Subscribed and Bless the Broken Renew Their Rivalry in the Shuvee Stakes

The two mares finished in a dead heat for second in the Ogden Phipps and meet once again this Friday at Saratoga, where Scottish Lassie will aim to regain center stage following a brilliant comeback effort

Fully Subscribed one of the favorites for the Shuvee / ADAM COGLIANESE / NYRA

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York (Special for Turf Diario).- The absence of Nitrogen (Medaglia D'Oro), the dominant winner of the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1), left the door wide open for a new chapter in a rivalry that promises to deliver plenty of headlines. This Friday in the Shuvee Stakes (G2-1800m, $250,000) at Saratoga, Fully Subscribedand Bless the Broken will cross paths once more after dead-heating for second in that June feature.

Trained by Chad Brown for Klaravich Stables, Fully Subscribed enters boasting a record of remarkable consistency. The daughter of Tiz the Law has never finished out of the money in seven career starts and owns two G1 runner-up efforts this season, first in the La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs and later in the Ogden Phipps.

In that last outing, she was clearly bested by Nitrogen, though she engaged in a thrilling head-to-head battle with Bless the Broken all the way to the wire.

"They just ran her off her feet," Brown summarized regarding that performance. "I really liked how my mare was coming into that race, and that just speaks to how extraordinary Nitrogen's performance was. With her out of this commitment, we get a major sigh of relief; now we'll see how she responds."

The conditioner added that the dark bay comes in excellent shape following a sequence of strong works at Saratoga. "I'm very pleased with how she's been working week in and week out. She's a very consistent mare."

A winner last year of the Mother Goose (G2) and the Comely (G3), both over 1800 meters at Aqueduct, Fully Subscribed will be seeking the third stakes success of her career.

On the other side stands Bless the Broken, trained by Brad Cox, who also comes in backed by a remarkably steady campaign. After finishing third behind Fully Subscribed in the La Troienne, she dead-heated with her for second in the Ogden Phipps and will now look to tip the scales definitively in her favor.

"Chad's mare beat us at Churchill, and then they tied here. They seem like two very evenly matched mares. Whichever one gets the better trip will be the one that wins, so hopefully this time it's our turn," commented Blake Cox, assistant to the multi-champion trainer.

The daughter of Laoban, acquired for $950,000 following her early campaign under Will Walden, won in her debut for the Cox barn during the winter and has competed exclusively at the highest level ever since.

However, the main threat to both may very well be Scottish Lassie, a dual G1 winner who made a spectacular return to action just a few weeks ago by dominating an allowance feature over seven furlongs at Saratoga by 8 1/2 lengths. The daughter of McKinzie, trained by Jorge Abreu, previously captured both the Frizette Stakes (G1) and the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1)—the latter by a staggering 15 1/2-length margin—before closing out her 3-year-old campaign with a frustrating unplaced effort in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

"I see her even stronger than when she was three years old, and that is exactly what you want to find. She was always a very quiet and mature mare, but here at Saratoga she seems to transform. She trains well anywhere, but on this track she really thrives," Abreu assured.

The field is completed by Aeolian (Tapit), stablemate to Fully Subscribed making her stakes debut; Eunomia (Tiz the Law); Snowyte (Good Magic), runner-up to Scottish Lassie in the 2024 Frizette; and the New York-bred Valtellina(Complexity), in a renewal of the Shuvee that looms highly balanced and could help shape the divisional picture among the top older fillies and mares of the season in the United States.