Sent to post as the 6-5 favorite, Shy Ann Jess sprinted to a wire-to-wire, one-length victory in the 350-yard Higheasterjet Handicap (G3) at Ruidoso Downs on Saturday.

Jacky Martin rode Shy Ann Jess for the jockey’s first stakes win since his return to the racetrack. Saddled by Eduardo Gonzalez for owners Henry “Butch” Southway and Paul Wood, the 5-year-old Mr Jess Perry stallion covered the distance in :17.097 while posting a career-best 105 speed index and his first lifetime stakes win.

Shy Ann Jess’ clocking also marked the second-fastest winning time in the stakes’ 23-year history, missing by 9/100ths of a second the stakes record set by Planet Holland four years ago.

Shy Ann Jess was bred in California by Morse and Kersey, and he became the 94^th stakes winner from 12 crops sired by Mr Jess Perry. An 18-year-old stallion and the sport’s champion 2-year-old in 1994, Mr Jess Perry has sired the earners of more than $31.1 million from 816 starters, including his top earner, 2008 champion sophomore colt One Famous Eagle. He stands at 6666 Ranch at Guthrie, Texas.

Shy Ann Jess’ dam, the 9-year-old Takin On The Cash mare Shyann Cash, won the 2003 California Breeders’ Freshman Stakes (R) at Los Alamitos and ran third in champion Hawkish’s Grade 1 Kindergarten Futurity. The mare has produced two winners from three starters, and she is a half sister to Shy Anns Trust, a gelding by Apollo (TB) who won 870-yard Moonshiner Handicap (G3) at Los Alamitos in ’06.

Shy Ann Jess’s third dam, the winning Beduino (TB) mare Normax, produced six winners from nine starters, including First N Four, a filly by all-time leading sire First Down Dash who won the 1992 Miss Kindergarten Futurity (G1) at Los Alamitos.

Campaigned exclusively in New Mexico, Shy Ann Jess has won six of 20 races, and the winner’s share of the $30,000 Higheasterjet purse boosted his bankroll to $119,468. The stallion has won four of his last five races, and he ran second, a neck behind Rylees Boy, in the 350-yard, $50,000 KOFX-FM Handicap at Sunland Park on January 30.

Shy Ann Jess was also a finalist in champion Heartswideopen’s 2008 Ruidoso Derby (G1) and ’07 Rainbow Futurity (G1).

Strike It Quick, Chicks Gotta Secret, Anywhere Bully, Obsessed With Corona, Dr Proctor, Kool Cade, Catchinon, Som Moon, and A Real Shaker completed the order of finish.

A 4-year-old gelding by champion Royal Quick Dash, Strike It Quick earned $6,600 to boost his bankroll to $127,292 for owner Rosa M. Guevara. The one-time $25,000 claimer was coming off of a third-place finish in the June 13, 400-yard La Plata Stakes at SunRay Park.

Chicks Gotta Secret is a 5-year-old New Mexico-bred stallion by Chicks A Blazin who banked $3,000 for his owners, Beatrice Alaniz and Naomi Salas. Chicks Gotta Secret was a finalist in champion First Moonflash’s 2008 New Mexico Cup Derby (RG1) at Zia Park.