Happy Saver about a month from starting season

ELMONT, N.Y. – Happy Saver, who went 4 for 4 in 2020 capped by a victory in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, worked a half-mile in 48.51 seconds Friday morning at Saratoga as he continues to prepare for his 4-year-old season.

It was the fifth work of the year for Happy Saver, who has not run since defeating Mystic Guide by three-quarters of a length in last October’s Jockey Club Gold Cup. Mystic Guide has come back to win both of his starts in 2021, including the $12 million Dubai World Cup.

“We’re making progress,” said Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Happy Saver. “Another month or so away – don’t have a race picked out for him yet.”

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Happy Saver is a son of Super Saver owned by Gerard and Alain Wertheimer. Pletcher seemed to indicate that another four-race campaign is likely in 2021, with the last race he hopes will be the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar in November.

“He needed a little break after the Jockey Club,” Pletcher said. “We decided there’s no point in rushing back. The idea is to have hopefully a fresh horse for the summer and fall. If we could get two or three races before the Breeders’ Cup, that’s what we’d be hoping for.”

Among Pletcher’s workers at Belmont Park Friday morning was Spice Is Nice, who went a half-mile in 49.28 seconds in company with Iced Latte.

Spice Is Nice is pointing to the Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire duPont Distaff at Pimlico next Friday. Spice Is Nice, a daughter of Curlin, is coming off a 2 1/4-length victory in an allowance race at Keeneland on April 9.