Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey
Holly Crest Farm's homebred Great Navigator delivered the first black-type stakes winner for his sire Sea Wizard Sept. 4.
The 3-year-old dark brown or bay colt won the $125,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap, taking the lead at the quarter pole before dominating the field with a 10-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile dirt challenge with Jairo Rendon in the irons.
“His last race I think Paco Lopez moved him a little too early and then he got bounced around said winning trainer Eddie Owens, Jr. You have to relax on him and let him do what he does. If you relax with him he will give you his best effort. He’s just such a consistent horse. He’s been consistent since day one. He’s just a very nice horse. Nice horses overcoming everything so I wasn’t worried about this being the longest race of his career. I know how talented he is.”
Out of the Stephen Got Even mare All Even, improved to 2-2-2 from six starts this year with $165,807 in earnings. For his career, the Eddie Owens Jr. trainee is 3-3-2 in eight starts with $249,107 in winnings.
“He has always been good. He’s a professional horse said winning jockey Jairo Rendon. I’m just very happy to get back on him. I know how he likes to run. I always thought he would want to go long so I had a lot of confidence in him today. He was the only 3-year-old in the field but he has run against these horses before and has done well. You just have to be patient with him early in the race. If you do that he will give you all he has at the end.”
Great Navigator broke his maiden on first asking last year and followed that with a second in the Sanford Stakes (G3) in his second career start.
Sea Wizard, bred in Kentucky by R. Alex Rankin, R. Lenihan, and P. Lenihan, was lightly raced. The son of Uncle Mo ran twice, breaking his maiden on second asking after finishing second the first time out. Sea Wizard is owned by Mac Nichol and was trained by John Mazza.
Sea Wizard stands at Pegasus Stud in Colts Neck, N.J.