So happy, so rewarding for breeder Miller

In November, So happy entered the starting gate as a long shot at 38-1 with few expectations. Two months later he has revealed himself to the racing world as one of the exciting young talents in the game.

After pulling off the upset in that debut, the son of Run happy showed professionalism and conviction with a powerful performance in the San Vicente Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park January 10: We beat the Bob Baffert-trained odds-on favorite Butane with 2 lengths.

Video: San Vicente S. (G2)

“I thought it was pretty impressive,” said the colt’s breeder, Leverett Miller. “I just didn’t expect it, it was pretty good.”

As a member of the Whitney family, Miller comes from a distinguished line of riders and women who are sure to put on an impressive performance when they see one. He and his late wife Linda bred the 2007 Carter Handicap (G1) winner Silver Wagon and, as far as racing is concerned, he owns the legendary plain blue Eton silk and brown cap that date back to his great-grandfather, William C. Whitney.

The mare, So cunning has great personal value to Miller. So Cunning is a fourth generation homebred for the Millers and descends from the winning Staff Writer mare So Divine. So Divine was the first filly Miller bought his wife after they married, and many of the offspring the couple owned together, or Linda herself owned, have carried the word “So” in their names.

So Divine, an average racehorse, became a solid producer. Her descendants include Race Artist, 1996 Virginia Handicap (G3) winner, multiple stakes winner So Dashing, stakes winner So Charming and So Frank, who set track records at Bluegrass Downs in both the 1 and 2 miles.

“So Divine went from the intersection with the teaser to the intersection with Mr. Prospector,” Miller said of her success. That daughter of Mr. Prospector was Race Artist, who produced two stakes winners of her own.

So Divine’s daughter So Ritzy would start the branch that eventually led to So Happy and produced the Grade 3 seed So Glitzy, the mother of So Cunning.

Miller was a two-time winner from three starts and chose to breed the daughter of Debt to Claiborne stallion Runhappy after a conversation he had with Dell Hancock, a lifelong friend who was a former classmate of Linda’s. She told Miller that she had two very nice foals by Runhappy out of Blame mares and suggested she breed So Cunning to him. After talking to another friend, Bernie Sams, he decided to give it a try.

The result was so happy. Miller and his wife had always worked by selling their mares’ foals at auction and keeping the fillies when possible, so the decision was an easy one to alert him to the sale.

“This was a colt we were always going to sell,” Miller said. “He wasn’t exactly an impressive weanling, as you could tell from the price.”

So Happy sold for just $12,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and was pinhooked for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale the following year. He was then relisted at the 2025 Ocala Breeders’ March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, where he brought $150,000 from trainer Mark Glatt as an agent for Hans and Ana Maron, racing as Saints of Sinners. Robert Norman’s Norman Stables would later purchase the foal. Through two starts, he has earned $156,000.

The colt Miller saw on his television screen Saturday was certainly very different from the colt he sold as a yearling, and the 94-year-old is excited about what the future will bring. The connection that So Happy’s pedigree has to Miller’s late wife makes seeing the colt’s success all the more special.

“(So Cunning) was the last mare she and I owned together. It’s very special,” he said. “It means a lot to have a good horse. I’m 94 years old, I’m not going to have too many more of them.”

Miller hopes the young three-year-old might be able to find his way into the Kentucky Derby (G1) starting gate. Runhappy, champion sprinter in 2015, who was sold to stud in South Korea ahead of the 2026 season, was known for his ability at sprint distances. However, Miller and the colt’s owners and trainer are hopeful that Blame’s influence on the pedigree will help extend the distance.

Miller has tasted success on the Derby trail before. He helped plan the mating Country house who won the 2019 Kentucky Derby (G1) via disqualification for breeder Joseph Shields Jr.

It appears So Happy will get his chance on the Derby trail, as Glatt told Santa Anita publicity on Jan. 11 that he would likely stretch to 1 1/16 miles in the $200,000 San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita on March 7, which awards Derby qualifying points on a scale of 50-25-15-10-5.

“I’m sure he’ll do one of these preparations when he comes here and we’ll see if he can make two turns.” Glatt said. “My first inclination would be to run in the San Felipe, but things change.”

The colt’s Hall of Fame jockey, Mike Smith, was optimistic that So Happy could continue to be successful.

“The way he handled the seven-eighth is usually a good indication that they’re going to go two turns,” Smith said from the winner’s circle on Saturday. “He was good in himself and ran under the wire.”