After going winless in eight starts as a freshman, filly pacer Sassy By The Sea has drastically improved in her sophomore campaign. Three starts in, she’s done nothing but win.
“She’s been good this year,” trainer Herman Hagerman said. “She’s gotten better in each start, and I couldn’t be any happier with her.”
A daughter of Downbytheseaside out of Sassy Lady Art, Sassy By The Sea finished no better than third in 2025, doing so in the fourth leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes (OHSS). She finished fifth in each of the other four legs and was sixth in the Ohio Breeders Championship and fourth in the OHSS Gray Championship to close out the year.
“She wasn’t very mature last year. She just didn’t have her head right,” Hagerman said. “She always showed a lot of speed, but she was immature about things. We raced her easy and took care of her and was hoping for a good year this year.”
So far, so good. Sassy By The Sea opened her sophomore campaign with a win in an overnight race at Miami Valley Raceway and added a victory in the first leg of the OHSS, taking a mark of 1:52.1 at the same track two weeks later. She scored another win in the second leg at Northfield Park Racino on May 30 and is the only sophomore filly pacer with multiple victories in the OHSS this year. She is three-for-11 lifetime with $155,930 in earnings for owners Hagerman Racing and Charles Reeve.
“She trained down good this winter, and she was really good when we qualified her — she ran a horse down from a long ways back and won — and she was very good in the first leg at Miami Valley,” Hagerman said. “The filly has a lot of speed and is a lot more mature this year. She’s very handy and hardly wears any equipment.”
Sassy By The Sea is looking to stay perfect on the season as Northfield hosts the third leg for sophomore pacers on Saturday, June 20. Three $50,000 USD divisions for fillies and two $75,000 USD splits for colts and geldings highlight a 16-race card starting at 6 p.m.
Sassy By The Sea is one of six entries in the second division for sophomore filly pacers, and despite her recent success, she did not receive top billing on the morning line. At 9-5, that honour belongs to Rodeo Dancer (Brett Miller), a Rodeo Romeo-Parts Unknown filly trained by Steve Bauder. She has three wins in five seasonal starts and will leave from the rail. Shacarri (Chris Page) is the 3-1 second choice and will leave from post two. She has two seconds and one third in five starts this year.
Sassy By The Sea drew post five and will leave alongside first-leg winner Vanna By The River (Dan Noble) in post four. The fillies are co-third choices on the morning line at 7-2. Tyler Smith has driven Sassy By The Sea to victory in each of her first three starts this season and returns to the sulky on Saturday. Hagerman likes that pairing and is hopeful to keep the win streak going.
“Tyler qualified her for me and is really confident in her now. To me, he’s one of the better young drivers, and he does a really good job with her,” he said. “She’s in with a nice field of horses, and we’ll just have to wait and see how the race works out and hope for the best.”
Seaside Shuffle (Page), last year’s OHSS Scarlet champion as a two-year-old, is the 2-1 morning-line favourite in the first division. Trained by Ron Burke, the Downbytheseaside-Hula Shuffle filly will leave from post five. Sea Me (Chris Lems) is the 5-2 second choice. The Virgil Morgan Jr. trainee has three wins in four seasonal starts and will leave from post two alongside 2025 Ohio Two-Year-Old Filly Pacer of the Year Shesafirewoman (Brett Miller, 3-1) in post three.
Kb Wrecking Ball (Noble) is the 8-5 morning-line favourite after drawing post five in the third group. Trained by Deborah Swartz, the Fool Me Once-Shes A Ball filly has hit the board in all nine seasonal starts with seven wins. She won the James K. Hackett Memorial and took a victory in the second leg of the OHSS. Burke trainee Laude Da (Page), the 3-1 second choice, has three seconds and one third in five seasonal starts and will leave from the rail.
Sophomore Colt Pacers
The first two legs of the OHSS for three-year-old male pacers produced five different winners, and all are entered in Saturday’s third round. Backninebar and Up In Place are in the first division, while Myboypank, Pet Project and Prolific Blend highlight the second group.
At 2-1, Backninebar (Page) is listed as a slight morning-line favourite over 5-2 Up In Place (Marvin Luna) in the first division. Trained by Burke, Backninebar was a winner in the second leg in 1:51.1. The Downbytheseaside-Restless De Vie colt has two wins in five starts this season and will leave from the far outside post six. Up In Place is three-for-three this season, including a win in the second leg in 1:50.4. The Lather Up-Helens Place Girl colt is trained by Tony Alagna and will leave from post two.
Leaving from post two, Pet Project (Trevor Smith) is the 2-1 morning-line favourite in the second split. The Pet Rock-Igottafeelinfran gelding, trained by Kim Dailey, took a win in the first leg in 1:53.1 and has two victories in five seasonal starts. Skull N Crossbones (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) is the 7-2 second choice and will leave from post four. The Burke trainee is a Downbytheseaside-Jolly Miss Molly gelding with one win in six starts this year. Myboypank (Luna) and Prolific Blend (Austin Hanners) are the co-third choices on the morning line at 9-2. Myboypank is an Alagna-trained Catch The Fire-Traditional gelding who has three wins and two seconds in five seasonal starts, including a victory in the second leg of the OHSS in 1:50. He will leave from post five. Prolific Blend, a Downbytheseaside-Blend gelding trained by Todd Luther, will leave from the far outside post seven. He took a win in the first leg in 1:51.2 and has two victories and four seconds in six seasonal starts.
(Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association)