Happy Jack's future lies in shorter races, trainer says

ARCADIA, Calif. - The last time Happy Jack started in a Grade 1, he finished sixth of eight at 17-1 in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Saratoga in August 2022.

Nearly two years later, Happy Jack is likely to start in another Grade 1 in the $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 27. The winner of the Bing Crosby Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

This time, Happy Jack will command a higher measure of respect from bettors.

Happy Jack won his first career stakes in his 13th start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita. Allowed to set a slow pace of 23.20 for the opening quarter-mile, Happy Jack lengthened his advantage as the race continued, winning by 4 1/2 lengths.

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Happy Jack was timed in a quick 1:21.32, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105.

“He had a pretty solid career prior to yesterday,” trainer Doug O’Neill said on Sunday. “That really inked where we’re going with him as an older horse.”

The speed figure equals the second-fastest of the year in a dirt sprint. Tape to Tape earned a 106 with a win in an allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Lone Star Park in April.

Skelly earned a 105 with a win in the King Cotton Stakes at six furlongs on a sealed and sloppy track at Oaklawn Park in February. Joey Freshwater earned a 105 with a win in a six-furlong allowance race at Aqueduct on April 4.

Happy Jack, a 5-year-old owned and bred by Calumet Farm, has started twice this year. He finished a game second to top California sprinter The Chosen Vron in the Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 27, his first start since July.

Happy Jack started twice last year, in Kentucky, finishing second and fifth in sprints.

“He had a little of this and a little of that,” O’Neill said, explaining the layoff. “He just needed time. It’s done a world of good.”

Happy Jack was once considered a router. After finishing a well-beaten third behind Taiba in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles in April 2022, Happy Jack was 14th in the Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles and eighth in the Preakness Stakes at 1 3/16 miles.

Those distances are in Happy Jack’s past.

“I think he’d get a mile, a one-turn mile,” O’Neill said. “Could he take that brilliance around two turns? I don’t know. It’s hard to change what we’ve seen in the last few starts.”

O’Neill has a solid group of sprinters. He also trains Mucho Del Oro, who has won two Grade 3 turf stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita this year – the San Simeon Stakes on March 9, and the Daytona Stakes on May 26.

Mucho Del Oro is a candidate for the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Aug. 31. The winner of the $150,000 Green Flash Handicap receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf Sprint on Nov. 2.

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