Gulfstream Park: Happy My Way in career-best form for Thursday allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Honorable Dillon and Undrafted will meet for the first time since finishing first and third in the Grade 2 Hutcheson last winter on Thursday at Gulfstream Park . But the two graded-stakes veterans could find themselves vying for second money in the six-furlong allowance dash behind a former claimer, the red-hot Happy My Way.

A field of only five older horses will assemble for Thursday’s main event, which along with Happy My Way, Honorable Dillon, and Undrafted also includes Helooksthepart and Dad’z Laugh.

Happy My Way has posted triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in his last two starts. A 4-year-old son of Wilko trained by Joe Orseno, Happy My Way earned a career-best 101 Beyer cruising to a 3 1/2-length allowance victory here Dec. 14. He came back to nearly duplicate that performance five weeks later, posting a 100 Beyer while finishing second behind the odds-on favorite Ribo Bobo, despite a slow start, in the Sunshine Millions Sprint.

Both of Happy My Way’s recent efforts came over the main track and followed a series of races on the turf in which he ran well but failed to win.

“I think the turf really got him good,” Orseno said. “When I put him on the turf he responded to that and seemed to become a better horse. When we got down here I really wanted to run him on the grass. But after a turf race we entered didn’t fill, I decided to try him on the dirt again. He won, so we ran him back in the stakes, and he went great again. He really loves the main track here and everything has worked out well, although deep down in my heart I still think he’s a better horse on grass than dirt.”

Orseno said he considered running Happy My Way in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Sprint Championship earlier this month but opted to pass the race to await the softer spot on Thursday.

“I was a little worried about rushing him back for the stakes because he came off two big efforts – two big numbers – and I wanted to give him a little more time to get over it, and he’s really doing well,” Orseno said. “I was a little surprised they let this race go with only five horses, but it’s a good race, so I can see them using it, even though it came up a short field.”

Honorable Dillon has won just once in six starts since his half-length victory over Forty Tales and Undrafted in the 2013 Hutcheson, with that win coming last spring against allowance company at Belmont Park. Honorable Dillon has started just twice since finishing eighth in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens in June and exits a last-place effort going a mile here last month in a field that included Falling Sky, who came out of that race to capture the Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship.

Undrafted has been idle since July, when he finished fourth in Del Mar’s Oceanside Stakes on turf. Trained by Wesley Ward for Denver Broncos star receiver Wes Welker, Undrafted followed his third-place finish in the Hutcheson by also finishing third here last winter behind Clearly Now in the Grade 3 Swale.

Helooksthepart has worked extremely well since shipping to south Florida for the winter with trainer Jim DiVito. He brings a two-race win streak into his local bow Thursday, with both victories coming against much lesser competition last fall at Hawthorne.

Dad’z Laugh registered a career-best 99 Beyer in his last start when finishing second behind Evolution Rocks in a six-furlong overnight stakes at Calder.