Sure, Baffert trained Butane earned his 1-2 favoritism by a second ahead of the subsequent winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Ted Noffey in the 2025 Hopeful Stakes (G1). Saratoga Race Course. Happy thus made only his second start and his stakes debut in the 7 furlong San Vicente, and he remained undefeated by beating Buetane by 2 lengths.
Mike Smith aboard So Happy wasn’t the only one trying to beat Baffert trainees Buetane and Greenwich village Kazushi Kimura on Recognizemeplz took it to the other four rivals from the start, zooming to the front and setting the early fractions of :22.03 for a quarter mile and :43.56 for a half mile.
Heading into the turn, Kimura attempted to steal the race, giving Acknowledgemeplz a 2 1/2 length lead. Buetane had to get around runners, while Smith was in third place with So Happy, in the perfect place to take the lead from Acknowledgemeplz. Buetane, who had bumped So Happy at the start, was late, but he could not overtake So Happy, who stopped the timer in 1:21.12. Acknowledgemeplz finished 2 1/4 lengths behind Buetane in third place.
“I was really happy with the way he handled the seven-eighths because usually that’s a good indication that they’re going to go two turns,” Smith said of the winner. “He was good in himself and ran under the wire.”
Run happy from the Debt mare So cunning for $150,000 from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of 2-year-olds in training in 2025. He purchased So Happy for Hans and Ana Maron, who raced in the name of Saints of Sinners, and Robert Norman later purchased the horse in the name of Norman Stables.
“He’s a beautiful horse, and he struck me as a horse that, out of a Blame mare, might not be just a sprinter,” Glatt said. “When you go to these sales, you’re trying to buy athletes, you’re trying to buy runners. You’re just there to try to pick out the best one for the money you have to spend and figure out the rest later.”
Glatt said he often takes a conservative approach and doesn’t run horses early. He unveiled So Happy in a 6 1/2 furlong maiden race at Sea November 22, and the colt scored by three-quarters of a length at 38-1. He left as second choice in the San Vicente, paying $7.80 to win.
Leverett Miller bred So Happy in Kentucky, and the colt sold as a weanling ($12,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale), as a yearling ($20,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale) and as a two-year-old. So Cunning, who won two of the three races, is a private breeder of Leverett and his late wife Linda. The Millers also bred and raced the second dam, based on stakes So glitzy.
Runhappy, who was sold to South Korea last year to continue his stud career, won the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) and was an Eclipse Award winner that season. His descendants include the 2023 Hopeful winner Nutella dude .
Video: San Vicente S. (G2)
#Happy #Delights #Connections #San #Vicente #Ring