Hessonite Preview: Saratoga Treasure Gets Much-Needed Class Relief

ELMONT, NY – Patricia Generazio homebred Saratoga Treasure gets some much-needed class relief as she heads into Friday’s $75,000 Hessonite Stakes, a 6-furlong outer turf course sprint at Belmont Park.

The Hessonite is open to New York-bred fillies and mares ages 4 and up and will go off as the penultimate event on the nine-race card.

Here is a look at the full field for the Hessonite:

1. Hannah’s Smile (9/2) – She won 3 of 4 to end 2019 and knocked the rust off against open company optional claimers over this course earlier this month. She has spent her entire career turf sprinting and has a sharp distance record of 7-4-1-2 between Belmont Park’s outer course and Aqueduct.

2. Sadie Lady (8/5) (Main Track Only) – Her connections will pray for rain if she hopes to make the starting gate. Though she finished third in her lone wet dirt start, she won three straight to start 2020 and would be the likely pacesetter if this race is taken off of the turf.

3. Purrageous Dyna (6/1) – Though most of her career has been spent going two turns, she has a 3-2-1-0 record in turf sprints, with her lone defeat coming by just a 1/2-length. That mark includes defeating fellow state-bred optional claimers while going 7 furlongs over this course last October.

4. Kid Is Frosty (3/1) – She won a pair of turf stakes last summer against 3-year-old New York-breds before tailing off in the fall. Irad Ortiz, Jr., was aboard for both stakes scores and hops back in the saddle as she makes her 4-year-old debut.

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5. Mentality (7/2) – She has shown an affinity for sprinting on Belmont Park turf, compiling a record of 6-4-0-2 between the inner and outer courses. She finished second last time out while covering 5 1/2 furlongs on the Churchill Downs lawn against optional claimers, her first start in over five months.

6. Jc’s Shooting Star (6/1) – The clubhouse leader for both starts (52) and wins (7), she has done her best running on turf, winning 5 of 25 grass appearances. Her most recent victory came last September against open high-level optional claimers on the local inner turf course at this distance.

7. Saratoga Treasure (2/1) – The morning line favorite should the race remain on turf, she made her first start in six months in the Intercontinental Stakes (G3) while going 7 furlongs over this outer turf course earlier this month. She makes her second start since December, when she took the Autumn Days Stakes against open company at Aqueduct.

“She got good last fall,” said her trainer David Donk. “It’ll be fun to run her here. This seems like a good spot for her.”