Essex's pair ready to battle Grease Missle
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Emerald Downs trainer Charles Essex has a pair of horses who have a lot in common entered in Saturday’s seventh race, a $20,000 claiming race for fillies and mares contested at six furlongs.
Hannahaza Hetty and Stay Sassy both have alliterative names, and both are 5-year-old mares. Both have three wins and three seconds from nine career starts, and both have won from off the lead or on it.
If you’re looking for any differences, Hannahaza Hetty has an additional third-place finish alongside those firsts and seconds, which helps explain why she’s earned $63,758 to Stay Sassy’s $52,427 over the course of their careers. Hannahaza Hetty also has one 2025 start to her credit – a second-place finish here May 26 – while Stay Sassy has been off since she finished a close fourth in the 1 1/16-mile $50,000 Washington Cup Filly and Mare Stakes in September.
“You expect her to run good,” Essex said of Stay Sassy, who’s been working smartly in the lead-up to her return. “She’s been training well. She had a long layoff. They have similar running styles. I tried to get them split up, but I just couldn’t get it done. I just have to hope for the best and hope they don’t interfere with each other.”
Speaking of Hannahaza Hetty, who was a last-second scratch last week after experiencing some trouble in the gate, Essex observed, “I think she could step forward a little bit. She was on a long campaign at the end of last year. She won three allowances at three different racetracks. I think the time off helped her quite a bit.”
The key for all of these horses will be to not let Grease Missle, the clear speed of the race, get too loose on the lead. The 4-year-old filly, trained by Frank Lucarelli, was able to do just that over 5 1/2 furlongs on May 31 and coasted to a gate-to-wire, 4 1/4-length victory over Zippin Sevenz, another Lucarelli trainee who also comes back here.
“I don’t want to let her get too far away from us,” Essex said of Grease Missle. “She looks like she liked it a lot when she got loose last race.”
Hannahaza Hetty will break from the inside post, while Grease Missle will break from the far outside of the seven-horse field, with Stay Sassy just to her inside. Hence, Essex thinks it’s Hannahaza Hetty who is the likelier of his pair to keep Grease Missle honest up front.
“Hanna draws the one hole and she worked pretty fast this morning,” Essex said Monday. “She might be pretty keen on the one hole, so she might be the one to be on the lead.”
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