Smile Happy Up for Adoption at Secretariat Center

Smile Happy , a graded stakes-winning millionaire whose racing career was impacted by noncompliant behavior, is available for adoption at the Secretariat Center in Central Kentucky. The move of the 5-year-old son of Runhappy   to the rehoming center was organized by trainer Kenny McPeek, according to Mike Mackin of Lucky Seven Stable, head of the partnership that raced him. 

The Secretariat Center, located on the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park, works to retrain former racehorses to transition them into new careers as sport horses. He is among 10 horses the center can retrain at one time.

"Real proud to be at that level—to have someone of that stature to trust us," Secretariat Center executive director Bill Nelson said of the connections sending Smile Happy to them.

Nelson noted that in the two months that Smile Happy has been at the center, he has already attracted visitors who know him from his racing performances, which included an eighth-place finish in the 2022 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs.

The dark bay or brown gelding excelled early in his racing career, winning both starts at age 2, including the 2021 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs. He also ran well at 3, running second in the 2022 Risen Star Stakes (G2) and 2022 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) in advance of the Run for the Roses.

Given a break due to bone bruising over the second half of his 3-year-old season, he returned to win two of his first three starts at age 4, topped by the Alysheba Stakes (G2) last year on Kentucky Derby day. His hard-headed ways, then manageable, became less so in subsequent starts. 

He needed to be walked backward for the length of the Ellis Park stretch to arrive at the gate for the 2023 Stephen Foster Stakes (G1), where he would finish fifth. Three more races coming this year would also result in challenges and unplaced efforts. He was gelded in an unsuccessful attempt to get him back running to his potential, Mackin said.

He credited McPeek with "trying everything," from having his jockey take him straight to the gate after leaving the paddock to the trainer giving him off-track preparations at the his Magdalena Farm.

He was never mean or sour, but "just didn't want to be a racehorse anymore," Mackin said.

His connections attempted to sell him this spring at the Keeneland April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, but Smile Happy fell short of his reserve when bidding stalled at $140,000. He retires with a 4-2-1 record in 12 starts with earnings of $1,060,580.

Now comes the next chapter at the Secretariat Center, where Smile Happy has been nicknamed "Kenny" after his trainer.

His move to the Secretariat Center comes as the Mackin family's Lucky Seven Stables is scaling back its partnership, with some of Mike Mackin's siblings less interested in continued racing. Mike and his brother, Craig, plan to continue to own horses, though not as Lucky Seven Stable.

Lucky Seven Stable's top earner, grade 1 winner Rattle N Roll , is training for a fall return, Mike Mackin said.

Caroline Tatum, equine program director and trainer at the Secretariat Center, said Smile Happy has adapted to easygoing life outside the racetrack. She describes him as having a "suburban dad personality, where he's just very happy to be retired."

She calls him "extremely smart" and is a horse who "just wants to do what he wants to do that day."

Tatum mentioned fox hunting and cross-country jumps as activities that he could potentially enjoy in a postracing career.

"Even if someone was just a big racing enthusiast and wanted to have just a companion horse to hack around or ride ... (he) has that type of personality that if you wanted to put him in your backyard, he'd be happy with that too," she said.

Adoption information from the Secretariat Center is available online.