Riding Pretty takes Eleven North; Sea Streak wins Charles Hesse

Vincent Annarella’s Holly Crest Farm, trainer Eddie Owens, and jockey Jairo Rendon swept the two stakes races highlighting a day of New Jersey-bred racing Sunday at Monmouth Park.

This surprised nearly nobody.

Riding Pretty won the $102,000 Eleven North Handicap, a sprint for older fillies and mares at odds of 1-2, and Sea Streak overcame a tricky trip to tally at odds of 2-5 in the $125,000 Charles Hesse Handicap, a dirt route for Jersey-breds aged 3 and older.

Three-year-old Sea Streak, coming out of a creditable fifth in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, was pushed out on the first turn by Forever Chocolate, wound up in a tight spot between horses in a ragged run down the backstretch, was wrangled back out of the lead group before going into the far turn, commenced a wide bid past the 7/16th marker, and pushed past No Cents to take a lead in upper stretch.

Amatteroftime, rallying from well back, made a late run, but Sea Streak was having none of it, holding firm to score by 1 1/2 lengths. No Cents flattened late while holding third. Sea Streak was timed in 1:45.39 over a fast track and paid $2.80 while winning for the third time in 10 races.

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Highly regarded at 2, Sea Streak debuted last summer at Monmouth in the Smoke Glacken Stakes, in which he ran into subsequent Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno, finishing second. He captured the Long Branch Stakes early this Monmouth meet and made the most of a relatively light weight, 117 pounds, in the Hesse, getting four pounds from the runner-up. A homebred, Sea Streak is by New Jersey’s best stallion, Sea Wizard, and out of High Noon Nellie, by Silver Deputy.

Riding Pretty, another Holly Crest homebred, is much more a route horse than a sprinter and hadn’t contested a dirt sprint since her career debut more than two years ago, but she had too much talent for her six foes. Rendon sat patiently in fifth into the turn before letting his mount make a wide, marauding move that carried her to the lead at the head of the homestretch. Bel Pensiero, the early leader, responded gamely, battling back to get on even terms again with Riding Pretty, but under stout Rendon encouragement the favorite pushed clear late to win by one length.

Riding Pretty carried 118 pounds, getting three from Bel Pensiero and five from third-place Beach Daze. She was timed in 1:10.34 over a fast track and paid $3.

Four-year-old Riding Pretty is by Jack Milton out of High Renaissance, by Girolamo. She and her younger stablemate were too much for the Jersey-breds Sunday at Monmouth.

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