Hi Happy holds off Sadler's Joy in Man o' War

ELMONT, N.Y. – Hi Happy confirmed his status as a top older turf marathon runner with a half-length victory over the Grade 1 winner Sadler’s Joy in Saturday’s Grade 1, $700,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park.

The win was the second straight graded stakes success for Hi Happy, a 6-year-old Argentine-bred who had won the Grade 2 Pan American at Gulfstream six weeks ago. Hi Happy, a son of Pure Prize trained by Todd Pletcher, improved his record to 8 for 13 and pushed his career earnings to $1,092,961.

“He’s a horse that came to us in great condition, remains that way, and he’s just finding his prime now being a South American-bred,” Pletcher said. “He’s been a joy to train.”

The Man o’ War went off at 7:22 p.m., 32 minutes later than scheduled after the start of Belmont’s 11-race card was delayed 37 minutes when the jockeys called a meeting with management of the New York Racing Association to discuss a number of concerns, most notably that they have been riding without a contract between NYRA and the Jockeys’ Guild since the start of the year. It wasn’t until just before 2 p.m. that the jockeys came out of the room and went to the paddock for the first race.

It was a cloudy day and rain showers came in mid-afternoon. By the time the Man o’ War went off, it was pretty dark.

Hi Happy, ridden by Luis Saez, got the same trip in the Man o’ War that he did in the Pan Am. He stalked the pace-setting One Go All Go, took over from that one in deep stretch, and was able to keep Sadler’s Joy at bay.

Hi Happy covered the 1 3/8 miles over a good inner turf course in 2:14.79 and returned $5.90 as the 9-5 favorite. He got a 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

“It’s the trip we expected to get; he broke alertly and crept his way up there,” Pletcher said. “Once the other horse cleared him, we got in the position we wanted, got into a comfortable rhythm and he handled everything great.”

Said Saez: “He runs pretty hard all the time. He’s getting better and better.”

Pletcher said Hi Happy would be considered for the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan on June 9.

Sadler’s Joy, who won last year’s Sword Dancer, came with his usual late run under Julien Leparoux but was simply second-best.

“He had a good trip, I don’t think there was anything we could fault, we were second-best,” trainer Tom Albertrani said. “We’ll keep going along and try to get him in the next one.”

Sadler’s Joy finished a half-length in front of One Go All Go. He was followed in the order of finish by Call Provision, Catcho En Die, Postulation, Bigger Picture, and Wake Forest.