LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If So Happy were a professional athlete, he might be akin to Allen Iverson, the NBA All-Star who had a disdain for practice.
Practice? Don’t talk to So Happy about practice.
“You wouldn’t buy him out of a sale breezing,” Mike Smith, the Hall of Fame jockey who has been So Happy’s regular rider, said Friday morning.
Smith, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice, was aboard So Happy for his final workout Friday at Churchill Downs in advance of next Saturday’s 152nd Kentucky Derby. Smith guided So Happy through a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.38, per Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Welsch caught So Happy’s final quarter in 24.92 seconds.
Smith thought it was one of So Happy’s better moves.
“He’s not a very good work horse, he never has been,” Smith said as he waited for his flight from Louisville to California to take off. “But he actually worked okay for him by himself – a minute and one and he galloped out better than he normally does, so that was good. But he doesn’t do anything flashy, especially by himself.
“I don’t know why but he’s always kind of been that way. That’s probably why he paid [$78] the first time he ran because he never lit it up in the morning.”
So Happy is such a lazy horse in the morning that trainer Mark Glatt equips the horse daily in blinkers. So Happy does not wear blinkers when he races. He is 3 for 4, including a victory in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, which followed a third-place finish in the San Felipe.
Glatt said early on So Happy would lose focus and did not pay attention in the mornings. Apparently, racing hasn’t changed that.
“Still, to this day, even having run four times, he’s a horse that’s got a lot of playfulness in him and might not always pay as much attention in the morning as you would expect one to, especially at this point,” Glatt said earlier this week. “So, he stays a little more on focus, a little more on task with the blinkers. It’s been working, so we haven’t bothered to change it up.”
In the afternoon, So Happy doesn’t lack speed. He was quick enough to win his first two starts sprinting. He was part of a quick pace in the San Felipe, a race in which he ultimately lost by 2 1/4 lengths after missing some training time leading up to it. He sat a close-up third, while three wide in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby before pulling away from the field at the end.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a horse that was as lackadaisical in the morning that turns it on like this horse does in the afternoon,” Glatt said. “He’s just night and day difference. Realistically, that’s perfect, that’s how you want these horses; easy and taking care of themselves in the morning but showing up when it counts, and he clearly does that.”
That he’s a son of the sprinter Runhappy may create doubt about So Happy’s ability to get 1 1/4 miles in the Kentucky Derby. Neither Smith nor Glatt believe that will be an issue.
“It sure didn’t look like that in the Santa Anita Derby, he looked strong finishing,” Glatt said.
“If he’ll move forward, he’s not without a good chance,” added Smith. “He’s going to have to move up and that’s what I’m banking on.”
So Happy was one of five Kentucky Derby hopefuls to breeze Friday – four at Churchill Downs, one at Keeneland.
At Churchill, Emerging Market, the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner, worked a half-mile in 47.58 seconds in company with the maiden 3-year-old filly Hedge Book. Emerging Market, who had regular rider Flavien Prat up, galloped out five furlongs in 59.83, per Welsch.
“I was very pleased,” trainer Chad Brown said. “He was moving nicely through the lane and on out. It looked like he did that well within himself and came back happy, cooled out quickly.”
Wonder Dean, the UAE Derby winner, was credited with a six-furlong workout in 1:17.80. But he went an opening furlong in 15.73 seconds and picked things up as the work went along under exercise rider Takuya Nakano. Wonder Dean got his last quarter in 23 seconds while being urged to finish by Nakano. He came into the stretch in the middle of the track and did drift in a couple of paths while finishing on his left lead.
Through an interpreter, Nakano said he was “happy enough with how he went. The breeze was as good as he was in Dubai.”
Asked about the drifting in, Nakano said, “it wasn’t planned, but it was my fault.”
Ocelli, the Wood Memorial third-place finisher who is likely to be one of the also-eligibles when entries close on Saturday, worked a half-mile in 48.08 for trainer Whit Beckman.
At Keeneland, Golden Tempo, the Grade 3 Lecomte winner who most recently finished third behind Emerging Market in the Louisiana Derby, went a half-mile in 47.40. He worked in company inside of five-time turf stakes winner Brilliant Berti. Golden Tempo worked in blinkers, equipment he wore for the first time in the Louisiana Derby and has worn in subsequent breezes.
“He’s really matured from his last race,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “In all his breezes, he’s done everything in the bridle. Now, he wants to be in front and won’t let them get near him.”
Golden Tempo was scheduled to van to Churchill from Keeneland early Saturday morning and should be here before the 11 a.m. deadline for horses entering the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks to be on the grounds. Renegade, the likely Derby favorite, was also expected to arrive early Saturday morning after vanning in from Florida.
Danon Bourbon, the undefeated Japanese-based colt, arrived at Churchill on Friday morning after vanning from Chicago, where he was in quarantine for 42 hours.
Weather permitting, six Kentucky Derby hopefuls were scheduled to breeze on Saturday, led by the Brad Cox-trained trio of Commandment, Further Ado, and Fulleffort. Also scheduled to breeze were Albus and Incredibolt for Riley Mott, and Right to Party for Kenny McPeek.
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