Sea Streak comfortably weighted against older in Charles Hesse Handicap

It’s good to have a fallback option.

Sea Streak last raced in the Grade 1 Haskell and did not disgrace himself, finishing fifth in a race won by Dornoch, leader of the North American 3-year-old division entering this weekend. But Sea Streak doesn’t have to tackle Dornoch or any other elite members of his class Sunday. Instead, he makes his first start in a race restricted to New Jersey-breds, the $125,000 Charles Hesse Handicap at Monmouth Park.

On a day of New Jersey-bred racing at Monmouth, Sea Streak takes on older horses for the first time, but that ought not matter. Three-year-olds in America usually don’t get as much weight from their elders as they should this time of year, but Monmouth’s racing office took proper account of the maturity deficit working against Sea Streak, assigning him 117 pounds.

His trainer, Eddie Owens, told Monmouth publicity that if Sea Streak “runs his race, I don’t think he will get beat.”

He shouldn’t. Sea Streak, a Holly Crest Farm homebred by New Jersey’s best stallion, Sea Wizard, trained sharply enough at 2 that Owens debuted the colt last summer in the Smoke Glacken Stakes. A normal year and Sea Streak wins that race, but he hooked an even faster New Jersey-bred, Book’em Danno, who beat him two lengths and has gone on to become one of the top one-turn 3-year-olds of 2024.

:: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.

Sea Streak wintered in Florida, ran all right, but broke out May 11 at Monmouth winning the Long Branch Stakes by more than seven lengths. Favored at 9-5 five weeks later in the Pegasus Stakes, Sea Streak endured a terrible trip and faded through the stretch to finish a distant fifth, but while he got back on his game in the Haskell, the top of that field just proved too tough for him.

One of Sea Streak’s main rivals Sunday also comes from the Owens barn, Great Navigator, who won this race a year ago by 10 lengths. That triumph aside, Great Navigator generally has done his best work in one-turn races, and in his most recent outing, an allowance race July 22 at Parx Racing, Great Navigator performed well below par.

Amatteroftime and No Cents finished one-two the last time a race in this division came up, the June 9 Friendly Lover, but Jasper’s Pride holds more appeal than those two. A distant seventh in the Haskell, Jasper’s Pride bounced back with a smart Aug. 3 Monmouth dirt route win over older New Jersey-bred allowance rivals and looks like a horse with two-turn upside.

◗ Earlier on the card, the $100,000 Eleven North Handicap, a six-furlong dirt race for older New Jersey-bred fillies and mares, drew a modest field of eight. Beach Daze, second in the 2023 renewal of this race, carries top weight of 123 pounds, while Owens and Holly Crest try the 4-year-old Riding Pretty.

In a vacuum, Riding Pretty appears to be the best horse in the Eleven North, but she’s a route horse attempting to cut back to a distance she hasn’t tried in two years.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.