John Sadler acknowledges that shipping a 2-year-old cross country just for a race like this weekend’s Tyro Stakes at Monmouth Park “isn’t for everybody.”

But with a horse that he says both needs to run and is ready to run, and with limited options for a 2-year-old grass sprint at this point in the racing calendar, the California-based trainer has sent Hey Nay Nay east for Saturday’s $100,000 five-furlong grass feature race as the next step in an ambitious campaign he has mapped out for the colt.

“This is a horse that broke his maiden early and he is doing very well and he needs to run,” said Sadler. “This is a very mature horse. The way you develop young horses is to race them, so this will help his development.

“This isn’t for everybody. You have to have a pretty good horse to do it, This one acts like a 3-year-old.”

When Hey Nay Nay does reach the starting gate Saturday it will mark the first time since the 2007 Breeders’ Cup that Sadler will run a horse at Monmouth Park. He finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with Tasha’s Miracle that year (after winning the Miss Woodford Stakes on the undercard with Coco Belle).

Hey Nay Nay, an Irish-bred son of No Nay Never, broke his maiden first asking at Santa Anita on June 1 in a five-furlong grass sprint.

Sadler has on his radar the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf on Sept. 7 or a pair of Kentucky Downs races – the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on Sept. 7 or the $1 million Juvenile Sprint on Aug. 31 – for Hey Nay Nay’s next start.

The ultimate goal, he said, is the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.

“I didn’t do a ton with him before his first start,” said Sadler, who entered the week with 2,872 career wins. “He looked good early in his training and so I said `let’s get him going.’

“I didn’t train him particularly hard and he won nicely. I think there is plenty of improvement in him.”

The 83^rd edition of the Tyro has attracted a field of 10, although the Wesley Ward-trainer first-timer Schwarzenegger is cross-entered at Saratoga on Friday.

Hey Nay Nay, a $300,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2024, arrived at Monmouth Park on Tuesday. Leading rider Paco Lopez has the mount.

Sadler said the Tyro “fit in the middle” of his plans after Hey Nay Nay broke his maiden. The colt is owned by Hronis Racing LLC and Iapetus Racing LLC.

“We are more apt to go to Kentucky when we go East these days,” he said. “But this is a bit of a unique circumstance.”

His hope for Saturday is simply to see Hey Nay Nay take a step forward.

“I want to see improvement after his first race,” he said. “As long as he runs a good race we’ll be happy. This will help him get ready for what’s ahead. Hopefully he will have another race after this and then we end up in the Breeders’ Cup.”