SANTA ANITA GOES FREEE – After a surprising 38-1 debut victory, So Happy showed he was no fluke when he made his encore on Saturday at Santa Anita. Facing winners for the first time in the Grade II, $200,000 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs, So Happy surged into the lead in the final furlong and held off a late charge from 1-2 favorite Buetane to score by two lengths under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.
“He backed up that first race with a great performance,” said winning trainer Mark Glatt.
Happy and Buetane were therefore at the back of the field shortly after the start. Under Kazushi Kimura, Acknowledgemeplz (7-1) raced to the lead, dropping to a sprint and adding blinders for trainer Doug O’Neill after a fourth-place finish in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 13. Acknowledgemeplz would complete the first quarter mile in 22.03 seconds while receiving pressure from Greenwich Village (8-1) and jockey Hector Berrios.
Entering the turn, Kimura and Acknowledgemeplz sprinted away from the field as they produced a fast opening half-mile of 43.56 seconds. It was then that So Happy took aim at the leader. He began to steadily make up ground on the leader, with Buetane hot on his heels.
Acknowledgemeplz remained in the lead through six furlongs in 1:08.41. But in the final furlong So Happy raced past the leader and then dug in bravely to hold off Buetane for the win. The winning time was 1:21.12.
“He was so excited there, he was ‘so happy,’” Smith said. “I was very happy with the way he handled the seven-eighths because usually that’s a pretty good indication that they’re going to go two turns. He was good with himself and ran under the wire. I was very happy with the way he did things. I thank Mark and his team and the owners for the opportunity.”
“Who knows, we’ll see where he takes us.”
Buetane, with Juan Hernandez in place of trainer Bob Baffert, finished second, 2 ¼ lengths ahead of Acknowledgemeplz. Thirsty Rebel (19-1) and Greenwich Village (8-1) rounded out the finishing order.
So Happy is a Runhappy colt from Norman Stables LLC and Saints or Sinners. He was purchased for $150,000 last year at the OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training. In his debut over 6 ½ furlongs on November 22 at Del Mar, So Happy scored the upset by three-quarters of a length when coming from just off the pace.
“We quite liked the horse,” Glatt said. “We asked a lot of him when he first went out. He had to ship to Del Mar the day he got here. He’s kind of a looky-loo in the morning. We train him every day with blinders anyway because he wants to look at everything. I just thought maybe he’s a horse that might need to race a little bit.”
Instead of having to race, So Happy is off to a 2-for-2 start with a Grade II win on the resume. The likely next step will be a test around two turns before a possible date in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby, covering 1 1/8 miles on April 4. The next races in Santa Anita’s stakes series for 3-year-olds on dirt are the GIII Robert B. Lewis going one mile on Feb. 7 and the GII San Felipe going 1 1/16 miles on March 7.
So Happy paid $7.80, $2.60 and $2.20. Buetane returned $2.10, $2.10. Acknowledgemeplz, trained by Doug O’Neill, paid $2.80.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Santa Anita with a 10-race card starting at noon PT.
Grade II, $200,000 SAN VICENTE STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
MIKE SMITH, SO HAPPY, WINNER: ‘He was so excited there, he was ‘so happy’. 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. He was good at himself and ran under the wire. I was very happy with the way he did things. I thank Mark and his team and the owners for this opportunity. Who knows, we’ll see where he takes us.”
TRAINER QUOTES
MARK GLATT, SO HAPPY, WINNER“He definitely showed more in the afternoon than in the morning, but we kind of liked the horse. We asked a lot of him, the first time he got away he had to be shipped to Del Mar the day he got in. He’s kind of a looky-loo in the morning. We train him every day with blinders anyway because he wants to look at everything, so I thought maybe he was a horse that maybe needed to race a little bit. But I did expect him to run well.” To be honest, I didn’t think he would drive so well and he backed up that first race today with a great performance.”
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