As reluctant as trainer Lindsay Schultz may have been to put Highestdistinction on the shelf last fall while he was riding a four-race winning streak – one a Grade 3 victory – she knew the horse both deserved and needed a break.

Now he’s back, albeit belatedly, looking to win Friday’s $100,000 Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park for the second straight year.

This time, though, the 7-year-old gelding will be attempting to win the mile and a sixteenth grass feature for 3-year-olds and up off a 10-month layoff.

“He obviously ran very hard last year. I just thought he needed a break after the race at Keeneland (a win in a $140,000 allowance race on Oct. 13) and there weren’t a lot of options left for him,” said Schultz. “It took a little longer to get him back. Not because of him. We were trying to run him in an allowance race his first start back. The races weren’t going.

“We even shipped him to Colonial Downs for an allowance race there and they canceled halfway through the card.”

A Kentucky-bred son of Point of Entry, Highestdistinction authored a remarkable turnaround at 6 a year ago when Schultz took over from Robert Medinas as his trainer. After going 0-for-6 in 2022, and 2-for15 entering the 2023 campaign, he reeled off four straight grass wins at four different tracks to end a year that saw him bank $395,340 of his career earnings total of $413,832.

His seven starts last year included four wins and two seconds, with the highlights being a win in the Oceanport Stakes followed by a win in the Grade 3 Baltimore-Washington Turf Cup at Pimlico. Under Schultz, Highestdistinction has four wins and a second in five starts.

“Everyone asked me last year what the difference was with him. I never really found a good answer,” said Schultz, who is based at Monmouth Park. “He got some confidence when he started to win and he got some nice trips. He likes to run on the outside. He likes to pass horses on the outside.

“He just got in really good form and a consistent rhythm.”

For Schultz, who started training full-time in 2022, the Oceanport Stakes last year marked her second career stakes win. She now has five stakes wins overall, three at Monmouth Park: The Oceanport Stakes and the Grade 3 Iselin Stakes (with Whelan Springs) last year and the Miss Liberty Stakes with Girl Named Charlie on May 26 of this year.

Highestdistinction, owned by Willow Lane Stable, has a first and a second from his two career turf starts at Monmouth.

“We’re happy to run him in the Oceanport but it is not where we wanted to get him started again,” said Schultz. “My thinking was to run him in an allowance and then go to the Red Bank Stakes (Sept. 2 at Monmouth Park). But he’s doing great and we don’t have to ship. So we decided to go in this spot.

“We just want to see the horse run well. We want to see him finishing, because even in the races he didn’t win last year he finished well.”

The Oceanport drew a field of seven, including the Christophe Clement-trained Big Everest, who has nine wins from 18 career grass starts. He was fourth in the Oceanport Stakes a year ago.