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Runhappy

Kentucky Sires for 2021: First Sophomores–Part I

The stallions we reach today are the first actually to have given some initial clue as to their ability to replicate those assets that earned them a place at stud. True, only their most precocious stock have so far tested the water and it should be obvious that limited conclusions can be drawn from so small a sample of their work. But we know the apathy of commercial breeders about producing racehorses. So long as they maximize their value as yearlings, the rest is gravy. That's why they get behind...

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Saturday's Insights: Freshly Minted Sophomores Debut

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency HALF TO RUNHAPPY BEGINS HIS CAREER 8th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, post time: 3:42 p.m. EDT PRAYER BOOK (Uncle Mo) gets the new year and his career started for seven-time Eclipse-winning trainer Todd Pletcher. Stonestreet bred the half-brother to champion and triple Grade I winner Runhappy (Super Saver), then sold him for a $500,000 hammer price at Keeneland September and stayed in to race the now 3-year-old in partnership with Harrell Ventures LLC. Stonestreet had purchased his dam for $1.6 million in 2015 just...

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Runhappy's 2021 Stud Fee Released

Champion sprinter Runhappy (Super Saver) will stand for $10,000 LFSN in 2021, Claiborne Farm announced Tuesday. Winner of the GI King's Bishop S. and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint S., the bay raced medication free. From 34 starters in his first crop, 19 have finished in the money, with five winners.

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Saturday's Racing Insights for Aug. 29

SPOTLIGHT ON RUNHAPPY BABY IN LOADED SARATOGA MAIDEN 6th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:57 p.m. ET HAPPYMAC (Runhappy), an $800,000 RNA at the OBS June Sale (:20 3/5), looks like the one to beat in this extremely deep baby race at the Spa. The half-brother to runaway GII Amsterdam S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) fired a five-furlong bullet from the gate in :59 2/5 (1/12) at Saratoga Aug. 17. Happymac, drawn widest of all in post 10 for the Heiligbrodts and Hall of Famer...

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Ellis Raising Overnight Purses

Ellis Park is increasing its base purses by 20% starting with Friday's races, the track announced Sunday. The increase boosts the purses of all overnight races, which are claiming, maiden and allowance races. It comes on top of a $6,000 per-race increase in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) purse supplements announced last week for non-claiming maiden and allowance races. With the hike for the remaining three weeks of the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park, maiden special weight (non-claiming) races will have a purse totaling $46,200 for Kentucky-bred horses and...

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At Outside In, OTTBS Bring Needed Comfort

Jennifer McVoy is a Licensed Master Social Worker and the founder of Out Side In, located in Grand Haven, MI, who grew up riding and showing Arabians. Her first educational degree was in business and she began her work life in the corporate world, but, early on, she decided that it wasn't for her and went back to school to earn her Master's Degree in Social Work. For 15 years, she practiced traditional therapy in a public-school setting and was always aware that horses could make a difference for people...

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Omega to Alpha, A Breeder Who Knows Horses Inside Out

If anything, you would think it the very last thing that might appeal to one who has spent decades acquainting himself, at viscerally close quarters, with all the things that can go wrong with a Thoroughbred. Yet here he is, sharing the same vicissitudes as those clients for whom--weighing the ups and downs of their trade--his veterinary skills so long served as a vital fulcrum. As one of the original partners of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Dr. Scott Pierce could scarcely have gone into breeding with fewer illusions....

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Runhappy Gets Impressive First Winner at Indiana Grand

Dismissed at longshot odds after drawing in from the also-eligible list, Libertyrun (Runhappy) sprinted clear in the final furlong to get his sire (by Super Saver) off the mark in Wednesday's fourth race at Indiana Grand. Debuting in the colors of owner/breeder Jim McIngvale as a 23-1 gamble, the Louisiana-bred jumped well and put himself right into the mix, settling about four off the inside and just off the pace into the turn. Between rivals on the bend, Libertyrun was confidently handled by Miguel Mena, responded when set down in...

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McKinzie Headlines Loaded Runhappy Met Mile

A talented and deep field of eight will line up for Saturday's highly anticipated 127th renewal of the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park. An unlucky second behind the mighty Mitole (Eskendereya) in last year's contest, 'TDN Rising Star' McKinzie (Street Sense) figures to vie for favoritism. He was first or second in all seven of his starts in 2019, led by a win in Saratoga's GI Whitney S. and a runner-up finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The four-time Grade I winner made up for a dismal...

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Juvenile Bonuses Available at Del Mar Summer Meet

Two-year-old runners will have additional incentives to shoot for this summer at Del Mar as the track will have bonus programs centering on freshman stallion Runhappy, as well as a unique package for all juveniles in its maiden special weight division. The Runhappy arrangement is the culmination of a two-year sponsorship Del Mar established last year with owner and breeder Jim McIngvale. If able to win one of Del Mar's $50,000 maiden special weight races, offspring by Runhappy will receive an additional $100,000 bonus. "I think you'll see his babies...

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Into Mischief Filly Sets New Furlong Mark at OBS

A filly by Into Mischief (hip 429) turned in the fastest furlong work of the week so far (:9 3/5) and a pair of juveniles shared the day's fastest quarter-mile time during Tuesday's third under-tack preview session ahead of next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. A filly by Street Sense (hip 493), consigned by Pick View, and a colt by Runhappy (hip 1266), consigned by S B M Training and Sales, both covered the quarter-mile distance in :20 3/5. Five juveniles have turned in...

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Serenity and Grace

In 2018, Wendy Cyr wasn't quite ready to get another horse but often scanned the available off-track Thoroughbreds on the Thoroughbred Adoption Network. This time was different. She came to a dark gray one-eyed mare named Cosmic Serenity (Cosmonaut- Gracefully Done) aka Serena, listed by ACTT Naturally. Cyr's last horse was a gray mare named Serena who had to be euthanized at age 20 and her childhood mount was an off-track Thoroughbred with one eye who took her through pony club. She showed the post to her husband. "My husband...

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