LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Five months after they last met, Happy Is a Choice got up in the final strides to turn the tables on Skelly, edging the favorite by a neck in the $300,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes, one of a pair of stakes sprints on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.
Happy Is a Choice ($30.18), who races for Hooties Racing, WSS Racing, and 4G Racing, was brought back from a layoff of more than a year by trainer John Ortiz this January. After shaking the rust off with a fifth-place finish, the Runhappy gelding won back-to-back allowance level events at Oaklawn Park. He then finished third behind Skelly, who is unbeaten at Oaklawn, in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap.
Happy Is a Choice then won an allowance/optional-claiming race in June at Churchill Downs, beating two next-out winners, and finished third behind Here Mi Song – who he also faced again Saturday – in the Jeff Hill Memorial at Ellis Park, continuing to chase that elusive first stakes win.
“Once he got going, you started seeing his ability, and he just got better each start,” Ortiz said. “I was very happy when he ran second to Skelly down at Oaklawn Park.”
In the Louisville Thoroughbred Society, Skelly, who had been his own worst enemy while breaking awkwardly or slowly in some recent runner-up stakes outings, was away better, and had established command within a few leaps. Under a longer hold and with his ears flopping, he breezed through early splits of 22.10 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.99 seconds for the half on the fast track. After that happy beginning, he held a lead of better than two lengths into the stretch, and appeared home free after repelling a bid from Here Mi Song, who had switched to the inside after pressing him outside early. But then Happy Is a Choice, who had been tracking in third, found his best stride inside the final furlong, and came with a rush under Ramon Vazquez to nail him at the wire.
The final time for the six furlongs was 1:08.97.
After the top two, it was 1 1/4 lengths to Here Mi Song in third, followed by Necker Island, Manny Wah, Cyclone Mischief, and Closethegame Sugar. The latter, the second choice off two stakes wins at Churchill earlier this year, was never seriously involved.
Skelly is trained by Steve Asmussen, who just missed a sweep of the day’s stakes. Earlier, he saddled favored Zeitlos, who swooped to her third stakes win of the year, rallying from last for a 1 3/4-length victory in the $300,000 Open Mind Stakes for fillies and mares sprinting.
Zeitlos ($4.88) and jockey Cristian Torres were last of six, a familiar position for the late runner, after the opening half-mile of the 6 1/2-furlong race. Up front, Run for the Hills was attempting to steal away, leading by 2 1/2 lengths through that opening split in 45.17 seconds, and still holding a clear lead as she turned into the stretch. For a moment, Positano Sunset loomed the danger sneaking up the rail. But the point was moot in an instant, as Torres angled Zeitlos into the six-path and the filly came with a powerful rush to sweep by in the final furlong.
Positano Sunset did notch second, 1 3/4 lengths clear of Happy Am I. Run for the Hills, Unsung Melody, and Backyard Money completed the order of finish.
The final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:16.87.
Zeitlos was as allowance winner in 2023, but this year she has blossomed, winning five of seven outings, including the Carousel Stakes in February at Oaklawn Park and the Roxelana Stakes in April at Churchill Downs.
"The Curlins," said Asmussen, who trained the filly's sire, a two-time Horse of the Year. "They just get better with time. She started off very talented, and took a few runs to get through her maiden and her conditions, and now she's just been a win machine."
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