CYPRESS, Calif. (Dec. 8, 2024) – Longshot Hey Jessie rallied wide through the long Los Alamitos stretch to win Sunday’s $102,000 Soviet Problem Stakes for Golden State Series-eligible 2-year-old fillies.
Hey Jessie is by Grazen, out of the Cee’s Tizzy mare Bea’s Cee, was bred by owner Sayjay Racing and is trained by Sean McCarthy. She was switching surfaces to the Los Alamitos dirt after breaking her maiden at a mile on the grass at Del Mar Nov. 16.
““I’m mildly surprised. I was confident she’d run well, I didn’t know how she’d handle the course, although in saying that, I knew the stretch would be a benefit for her,” said McCarthy. “She has a big, long stride, a beautiful moving filly. She’s probably not as fast as these horses are, but I knew she’d have a good, closing kick in her because we got a good bottom in her.”
McCarthy said he will point Hey Jessie to the $175,000 Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks at one mile on the turf at Santa Anita on January 11.
“We’ll train into the Oaks, that’s the plan right now” he said.
Hey Jessie has two wins in three starts and earnings of $95,640.
Hey Jessie ran the mile in 1:39.85 and won at odds of 16-1 by 2 ¼ lengths over In the Air Tonight, with Tequilaandtherapy finishing third in the field of nine.