The last time the California-bred banner was carried to victory in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) was 15 years ago, when Ultra Blend, by Richly Blended, shocked a field of accomplished fillies and mares at 10-1 odds for owner Nels Erickson and his trainer, Art Sherman.
Formerly called the Chula Vista Handicap, the 1 1/16-mile Hirsch will be run for the 56th time at Del Mar Aug. 1, with three daughters of the Golden State primed to make things interesting for Boyd Racing's defending race winner Seismic Beauty in its field of nine.
The feature is named in honor of the late Clement Lang Hirsch, founder of the Oak Tree Racing Association and director of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Oak Tree operated a stakes-filled autumn meet at Santa Anita Park for four decades, ending its run in 2010 with a one-off season at Hollywood Park. Since then, the association has continued in its role as a charitable foundation, finding ways to support a variety of racing causes.
In an effort to maintain the grade 1 status of the Hirsch as an attractive target far and wide, Oak Tree has provided $100,000 of the $400,000 purse.
This year, the race has gleaned a pair of opportunistic eastern invaders—Juddmonte's Chasten, a half sister to champion Idiomatic from the deep bench of trainer Brad Cox, and the well-traveled Eunomia, who has been training most recently at Saratoga Race Course for Saffie Joseph Jr. The Hirsch is also a part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, offering the winner a fees-paid berth into the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland.
In addition to Seismic Beauty, who will try to give Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a fourth straight win in the Hirsch, the field includes the ambitious 3-year-old Bank Shot, last year's Zia Park Oaks winner A Thousand Miles, and Simply Joking, romping winner in April of the Santa Maria Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita.
Then there is the trio of California-breds, each of them bearing worthy credentials. Om N Joy, the pride of the Aggie Ordonez stable, defeated Simply Joking and Seismic Beauty last time out in the Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita, while Majestic Oops won a pair of stakes at Oaklawn Park earlier this year for trainer Dan Ward before Ward began working as an assistant for Baffert and the mare was transferred to the barn of trainer Phil D'Amato.
Both Om N Joy and Majestic Oops are well proven on dirt. Hey Jessie, on the other hand, has spent 12 of her 13 starts racing on grass, favoring distances of 1 1/8 miles or more and sporting a recent victory in the listed Santa Barbara Stakes at 1 1/2 miles. Her trainer, Sean McCarthy, was asked if he had possibly misread the conditions of the Hirsch.
"Obviously, her greatest asset is running over as much ground as she can get," McCarthy said, ignoring the wise-guy question. "But she is just doing so well, and her last three works have been phenomenal."
Those last three works were all at five-eighths of a mile and included a smart :58 4/5 July 19 at Del Mar, the best of 87 at the distance.
"And she did it like this," said McCarthy's senior groom, Beto Donis, pulling hard on a set of imaginary reins.
Nearby, Hey Jessie came to the front of her stall and presented a gray muzzle for a friendly stroke. The 4-year-old daughter of Grazen was bred by her owner, the Sayjay Racing of Steve Young, who named her for his granddaughter.
Hey Jessie was forward enough to win a Del Mar maiden race at a mile on grass at age 2 in November 2024. She turned around three weeks later to win the Soviet Problem Stakes, going 1 mile around at Los Alamitos Race Course in what has been her only start on dirt.
Besides the Santa Barbara, her grass record sports a close second against California-bred males in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes in January at Santa Anita. Still, Hey Jessie will be among the race longshots, and McCarthy is realistic about switching his filly to dirt in a grade 1 contest.
"We've seen this scenario before," the trainer said. "A grass horse works great on the dirt, so let's take a chance, and then you flop. But you don't know until you do it, and we really have nothing to lose."
Hey Jessie has lost her Santa Barbara partner, Emisael Jaramillo, who is sticking with Simply Joking. McCarthy bided his time, then snapped up an available Antonio Fresu, who is in the thick of a tight race at the top of the Del Mar standings.
"I think they'll be rolling along up front pretty good, so that should help us a bit," McCarthy added, hoping for a brisk pace. "Even so, I wouldn't think she'd get outrun, since she gets into fifth gear pretty quick and stays there. Anyway, she's definitely telling me something. Let's see if this is it."
Del Mar, Saturday, August 1, 2026, Race 10Entries: Clement L. Hirsch S. Presented by Oak Tree Racing Association (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Chasten (KY) Florent Geroux 121 Brad H. Cox - 2 Hey Jessie (CA) Antonio Fresu 121 Sean McCarthy - 3 Om N Joy (CA) Kent J. Desormeaux 123 Aggie Ordonez - 4 Bank Shot (KY) Adrian Escobedo 117 Ryan Hanson - 5 Majestic Oops (CA) Joel Rosario 123 Philip D'Amato - 6 Simply Joking (PA) Emisael Jaramillo 121 Michael W. McCarthy - 7 A Thousand Miles (KY) Edgar Payeras 121 Vann Belvoir - 8 Seismic Beauty (MD) Juan J. Hernandez 123 Bob Baffert - 9 Eunomia (KY) Micah J. Husbands 121 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. -
