Riding Pretty rebounds with Smart N Classy triumph

Second by a neck in the race one year ago, Riding Pretty was second to none in the $85,000 Smart N Classy Handicap on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

Riding Pretty had one horse to beat in this one-mile dirt race for older New Jersey-bred fillies and mares, and when that mare, Beach Daze, backed out of contention going into the second turn, the Smart N Classy was Riding Pretty’s. Her jockey, Jairo Rendon, edged her three wide around the far turn to collar the pair of rivals who had set a slow pace, and Riding Pretty had the lead at the quarter pole, drawing clear to a 7 1/2-length victory.

Autumn’s Turn, the longest price in the field of six at 31-1, nabbed second over 124-pound high-weight Beach Daze, who rallied mildly through the stretch after losing all her position past the half-mile pole.

Riding Pretty carried 121 pounds to victory, clocking 1:39.25 over a fast track and paying $4 as the favorite. Eddie Owens trains Riding Pretty for her breeder, Vincent Annarella’s Holly Crest Farm. Four-year-old Riding Pretty, perhaps the best female New Jersey-bred in training, is by Jack Milton out of High Renaissance, by Girolamo.

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