Driver Riley Harrison placed Major Happy last in the outside row before moving to the front and getting parked. When Foveaux Gambler galloped with just over a lap to go, Harrison was able to put Major Happy behind the leader and favorite Dover Terrace.
As the leading pair entered the home straight, Harrison rode Major Happy in to take a length advantage. But Dover Terrace came back and the margin on the line was a head.
“She’s just an honest, good endurance type and if she gets the right run, she’s there. She has a bad habit of stalling as soon as she gets into the lead. She was just about to throw it away yesterday. It’s just a quirk of hers. She can’t work at the front and just has to do her preliminary round with another horse. She’s very happy with the chase,” said trainer Philip Vermeulen.
IMPORTANT HAPPY REPEAT
Philip is retired, runs cattle on his fifty-acre estate on Gressons Road near Rangiora and works in Robert and Jenna Dunn’s stable on Woodend Beach in the mornings.
He has trained eighty-five winners, with the best being Strike Back, who won eight.
Major Happy is played by Philip’s sister Lissa Vermeulen, his son Alex and daughter Rachel Vermeulen and Philip’s partner Nic Stevens.
“I was going to cover Major Happy this season. We booked her with Always B Miki, but he didn’t come out. I was humming and hating, but because she’s racing so well, I’ll wait until next season.”
Major Happy is the first foal out of the Bettor’s Delight mare Shrieks Of Delight who won four races for Vermeulen and was placed a further nine times in just twenty-nine starts.
“She was a nice horse who qualified for the Nevele R Fillies Final, but she broke down.”
The mare has left two more foals: a two-year-old Captain Crunch and a yearling who is a full sister of Major Happy.
Philip’s father Maurice trained Hilarious Guest, a pioneering filly and in 1982 she became the first filly in eighteen years to win the New Zealand Derby.
“I remember the Derby because I was riding (at work) with the galloping pacer at the time. It was exciting stuff.”
She was also the first filly to win both the New Zealand Derby and the New Zealand Oaks and one of the few fillies to qualify for the New Zealand Cup at the age of three. Along the way she recorded four New Zealand albums.
Derek Jones was instrumental in placing Vermeulen and his partner John Osborne on New Guest, the mother of Hilarious Guest. Osborne purchased the filly from Alister Kerslake for $5,000. She had two starts for Jack Smolenski before she started hurting.
So she was sent to BJ Stud in Victoria, where she was served by Kentucky before visiting Hilarious Way. Osborne and Vermeulen tossed a coin to see who would get which of her newest foals. Vermeulen got the filly Hilarious Way which he named Hilarious Guest.
Over five racing seasons, Hilarious Guest raced seventy-three times and won twenty-one races, including the New Zealand Two Year Old Championship, the NZ Sapling Stakes, the NZ Oaks, the NZ Derby, the Ladyship Stakes, the Northern Oaks, the NZ Messenger and the New Zealand Standardbred Breeders’ Stakes.
She was also runner-up twice in the Auckland Cup, beaten by Roydon Glen (1985) and Armalight (1983).
For full race results, click here.
Through Bruce Stewartfor Harnesslink
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