McPeek to save Smile Happy for Risen Star

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kenny McPeek said he is likely to wait for the Risen Star at Fair Grounds with Smile Happy instead of having the unbeaten colt make his 3-year-old debut here at Gulfstream Park in the Holy Bull on Feb. 5 as had been originally contemplated.

McPeek said Monday he has “really thought things through” for Smile Happy and that “ideally I’ll just need two preps” toward the Kentucky Derby on May 7 for a colt who came to prominence by dominating the Kentucky Jockey Club on Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs off a debut maiden triumph.

The Risen Star on Feb. 19 not only is the first Derby points qualifier with as many as 50 points to the winner, but it also goes at 1 1/8 miles, as opposed to slightly shorter races early in the prep season.

“Plus I keep him separated from Tiz the Bomb for now,” McPeek said.

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Smile Happy, owned by the Mackin family of Louisville, and Tiz the Bomb, owned by Phoenix Thoroughbred Ltd., have breezed together at Gulfstream the last three Saturday mornings and will do so again this coming weekend. In their latest team work, they went a half-mile in 46.40 seconds over a fast track.

Tiz the Bomb, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 5 after winning back-to-back turf stakes, will return to dirt in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, a 1 1/16-mile race that offers Derby points on a 10-4-2-1 basis.

McPeek has two other Derby hopefuls in Rattle N Roll, a last-out winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity in October, and Dash Attack, who goes next in the Southwest on Jan. 29 off a victory in the Smarty Jones on Jan. 1, both at Oaklawn Park.

“Keeping them all apart is a really good problem to have,” said McPeek, who has won the Preakness (Swiss Skydiver, 2020) and Belmont Stakes (Sarava, 2002) but is 0 for 6 in the Derby.

Meanwhile, McPeek was busy Monday trying to get his Twitter account straightened out.

“Got hacked last night,” he said. “Whoever did it has me selling video players or something.”