The Kentucky Oaks, Black-Eyed Susan and Acorn winners get their first career showdown against one another in the Grade 1 $600,000 Alabama Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga. How the season’s top 3-year-old fillies match up in this mile and one-quarter test of stamina could be tell-tale in the race for the Eclipse Award at season’s end.

Let’s meet the contenders for the Alabama (Race 10):

#1-MARGIE’S INTENTION: First of 2 Brad Cox trainees in the lineup, the former Brendan Walsh charge won Pimlico’s Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan in 2her first start for the new barn and followed that up with a second-place effort in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks as the favorite. Daughter of Honor A.P. is 6-for-7 in the exacta lifetime and expected to employ a late-running style. The last Black-Eyed Susan winner to capture the Alabama was Stopcharginamaria in 2014 – prior to that Royal Delta in 2011. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has a pair of Alabama wins (2012 Questing, 2022 Nest).

#2-GOOD CHEER (pictured): Ran her win streak to 7 to open her career when drawing clear late to tally the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. But the balloon burst in her most-recent effort, a fifth-place run in the Grade 1 Acorn at Saratoga at 30 cents on the dollar in the betting. Brad Cox and jockey Luis Saez look for the bounce-back effort in hopes of landing their first Alabama. Sire Medaglia d’Oro, who also has Nitrogen in this lineup, was responsible for 2016-’17 Alabama winners Songbird and Elate. The last Kentucky Oaks winner to add the Alabama was Princess of Sylmar in 2013 – prior to that Blind Luck in 2010.

#3-KINZIE QUEEN: Third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and Grade 3 Delaware Oaks gets a rematch with familiar foe Margie’s Intention. The former $50,000 claim last November is 4: 0-0-2 in stakes and will be making her first Grade 1 appearance for Delaware-based trainer Greg Compton. Jockey Junior Alvarado’s dream season aboard Sovereignty got some just desserts last Saturday when piloting Fort Washington to the Grade 1 Arlington Million title on the road at Colonial Downs. Sire McKinzie has had stakes winners Chancer McPatrick and Scottish Lassie – as well as Jim Dandy runner-up Baeza – already shine at the 2025 Saratoga summer meet.

#4-NITROGEN: 17-length winner of the 3-runner Wonder Again Stakes gets back on dirt for the only time other than that sharp effort on a sloppy track. The multiple Grade 2 winner on turf saw her 5-race win streak narrowly snapped last out when second by a nose on grass as the 2-5 favorite in the Belmont Oaks Invitational. Joins Mark Casse stablemate La Cara in the lineup Saturday and may be sitting second to that one in the early going. Jose Ortiz won 3 straight Alabama editions from 2017-’19 (Elate, Eskimo Kisses, Dunbar Road). Sire Medaglia d’Oro, who also has Good Cheer in this lineup, was responsible for 2016-’17 Alabama winners Songbird and Elate.

#5-QUEEN AZTECA: Runner-up as the heavy favorite against the boys last out in the Swedish Derby over 1-1/2 miles, she provides a total X-factor to the Alabama. She won the Group 2 UAE Oaks at Meydan in February and has won 4 of 9 racing in Norway, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. American racing syndicate Team Valor privately purchased her just prior to the Swedish Derby and brought the Kentucky-bred daughter of Cigar Mile winner Sharp Azteca home to race and will transfer to trainer Rudolphe Brisset. Joel Rosario piloted Alabama winners Blind Luck (2010) and Randomized (2023).

#6-LA CARA: Expected Alabama pacesetter exits a winner-to-wire win in Saratoga’s 1-1/8 miles Grade 1 Acorn and also wired the 1-1/16 miles Grade 1 Ashland earlier this year at Keeneland. Folded in the Kentucky Oaks when tiring to ninth, some 13 lengths behind Alabama foe Good Cheer as part of a hot-and-cold resume that shows 5 wins from 11 starts. Daughter of 2007 Travers winner Street Sense, who negotiated 10 furlongs at the highest level locally. The last filly to win the Acorn and Alabama was eventual Hall of Famer Open Mind in 1989 (Acorn had been raced at 1 mile through 2022). Trainer Mark Casse also sends out Nitrogen on Saturday, and he’ll give the return call to this filly’s exclusive 2025 season pilot Dylan Davis.