Aqueduct notes: My Happy Face ill, Kentucky Oaks unlikely

Barbara D. Livingston

My Happy Face won a maiden race by 21 1/4 lengths at Saratoga in her second start.

My Happy Face, winner of the Grade 3 Tempted last fall at Aqueduct, is likely off the Kentucky Oaks trail after developing a virus, her owner Michael Dubb said.

My Happy Face was shipped this week from Gulfstream Park to the Kentucky Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Versailles, Ky., where she is expected to reside for 10 to 14 days, according to Dubb.

Dubb said that while he wouldn’t totally rule out the Oaks, “I would say it’s highly unlikely,” he added.

My Happy Face, trained by Rudy Rodriguez, won a maiden race by 21 1/4 lengths at Saratoga in her second start.

She then lost a head a decision to Dreaming of Julia in a stirring stretch drive in last October’s Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont. She came back to win the Grade 3 Tempted by a neck at Aqueduct.

In her lone start this year, My Happy Face finished second behind Kauai Katie in the Grade 2 Forward Gal at Gulfstream on Jan. 26.

She got sick about a week ago but she did not immediately respond to antibiotics, according to trainer Rudy Rodriguez. When she recovers at Kesmarc, My Happy Face will rejoin Rodriguez’s string at Aqueduct.

Gargan out on his own
Danny Gargan, who has served as an assistant trainer to Nick Canani for nearly a year, has gone out on his own. He will have a 14-horse stable and his first starter will be Girl Code – a 3-year-old filly he owns – in Sunday’s $75,000 Beru Stakes.

Gargan, 41, has previously worked for trainers Nick Zito and John Ward. He has also served as a jockey’s agent for the likes of Pat Valenzuela, Jesus Castanon, Brian Hernandez Jr., and Joe Judice.
Gargan said he had planned to go out on his own last spring, but elected to help out Canani, who had just gotten fired as the private trainer for Frank Calabrese.

“Nick lost his job, we’re best friends. I helped him get started,” Gargan said Friday. “He’s up and rolling, he’s got good clients, time for me to try.”
Girl Code, a daughter of Teuflesberg who had been trained by Canani, enters the Beru off a five-length maiden win over the inner track on Jan. 31.

While Gargan believes her true calling will be as a turf sprinter, he believes she can be competitive Sunday in a race where Kelli Got Frosty figures to be heavily favored.

Long River, Valid sidelined

Two of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s 3-year-old maiden winners will be sidelined indefinitely.

Long River, a son of A.P. Indy and the first foal out of Grade 1 winner Round Pond, will need surgery to remove a chip from a knee, McLaughlin said. Long River finished fourth in the Jerome on Jan. 5 and last in the Withers on Feb. 2.

Valid, a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Malibu Prayer, lost training time because of an infection in his foot. Valid tore off a piece of his hoof when he fell to his face at the start of the Withers, in which he finished seventh.