Hey Jessie built for longer distance of Santa Barbara
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Hey Jessie’s career has been built for distance races such as Sunday’s $100,000 Santa Barbara Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Santa Anita.
In January, Hey Jessie finished second by a half-length to Vodka Vodka in the $175,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic against statebred males at 1 1/8 miles on turf. Vodka Vodka later finished second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, and won the $250,000 Sunland Park Handicap in April.
In her only start since January, Hey Jessie was sixth of 10, beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Take A Breath, in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf on March 15.
“She closed well in that race,” trainer Sean McCarthy said. “We were a little too far out of it and that didn’t help our chances. It was a disadvantage.”
Owned by Steve Young’s Sayjay Racing, Hey Jessie has won 3 of 10 starts and earned $188,288. She has the most wins and highest career earnings of the five entrants in a modest field in the Santa Barbara Stakes.
Hey Jessie won the $102,000 Soviet Problem Stakes for statebred 2-year-old fillies at a mile at Los Alamitos in December 2024. Her only win in six starts in 2025 was an allowance race at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in October. The victory gives McCarthy hope that Hey Jessie can handle a longer trip in the Santa Barbara.
“I think she’ll be good with it,” he said. “She’s not rank. She has a lengthy stride to her. She won well going a mile and a quarter.”
Hey Jessie will have a new rider in Emisael Jaramillo, who led the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that ended on April 5. Jaramillo worked Hey Jessie earlier this month, McCarthy said.
Jaramillo replaces Mike Smith, who was aboard for Hey Jessie’s preceding five starts.
The Santa Barbara lineup includes the capable 4-year-old filly Resolve, second by a nose in the Santa Ana Stakes; Cailin Dana and French Moonlight, who have won maiden races in the last year; and Ulysses Rose, a maiden after two starts.
Resolve, trained by Leonard Powell, is winless in 14 starts since a maiden race at Del Mar in November 2024. Resolve has been close in her last three races. Prior to the nose loss in the Santa Ana Stakes, Resolve was second by a head in allowance races at 1 1/8 miles on turf in January and at a mile in February.
The Santa Barbara Stakes will be the longest race of her career. She was second by 1 1/4 lengths in an allowance race at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Del Mar last November.
Ulysses Rose, an Irish-bred filly, finished a fast-closing third in a maiden race at a mile on April 5 in her American debut, and second start. Trained by Michael McCarthy, Ulysses Rose was second in a maiden race in Ireland last June.
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