Runhappy in Final Drill for Return
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James McIngavle’s Runhappy, last year’s champion sprint male, got in his final work Sept. 25 at Keeneland before he'll make his 2016 debut next weekend. The 4-year-old son of Super Saver was timed in :58 1/5 for five furlongs over the main track.
He’s slated to make his 2016 bow in Churchill Downs’ Ack Ack Handicap (gr. III) Oct. 1.
Shipped from his base at the Kentucky Training Center to Keeneland, Runhappy took to the track in darkness around 5:45 a.m. under exercise rider Marcus O’Donnell. After trotting down the stretch the wrong way, he turned and went into a gallop. Hitting his stride as he went around the first turn he gathered momentum down the backstretch before breaking off.
Bloodstock agent Finn Green clocked Runhappy in splints of :13 1/5, 25 3/5, :46 4/5, and :58 1/5.
According to data pulled from E-Trakka, a GPS system in Runhappy's saddle pad, he got a half-mile in :46 3/5, five furlongs in :58 3/5, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.
“He’s just a fast horse,” Green said immediately after the move. “I’ve seen a lot of horses in my time, but I haven’t seen anything like him. He’s intelligent, his cardiovascular system is off the charts, and his biomechanics are incredible.”
Trainer Laura Wohlers watched from the track’s apron.
“I don’t know where he started off because I was down by the wire to see him come down the stretch so I couldn’t see across the track,” she said. “I think he really started going around the half (mile). Marcus started him out slow. He’s been trying to get him to relax early and finish up strong.”
Cooling out at Barn 60 on Rice Road after the move, O’Donnell said little has he hustled off to train his own horses, but as he headed out the barn said: “He’s scary good, guys; scary good. I was trying to gear him down after the turn, but he wanted to break off again at the seven-eighths pole.”
Gray Lyster, who bred Runhappy with his brother Bryan and father Wayne, was on hand for the move.
“I’m not a race guy, I’m a farm guy, but that was just impressive,” he said. “Even to the novice eye you could see that he’s just so fast.”
Laura McIngvale Brown, the owner’s daughter, told Lyster, “You’ve bred yourselves a racehorse, guys.”
Runhappy has not raced since wrapping up the sprint championship with a resounding score in the Dec. 26 Malibu Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park. The Ack Ack Handicap is a one-turn mile race that would serve as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) Nov. 5 at Santa Anita.
“I think he’s ready,” Wohlers said. “We’re not going to do anything else at this point. He did a strong two-minute clip on Wednesday and did that well. We’ve got this good, strong blowout under him and now it’s just letting him relax and conserve some energy. He’ll go to Churchill the morning of the race. We don’t do Lasix, so there is no reason to go early.”