McPeek trying to find what makes Smile Happy happy

The Mineshaft Stakes has gotten the screws put to it. The Grade 1, $500,000 Santa Anita Handicap comes March 2. The $3 million Pegasus World Cup was Jan. 27. And the Saudi Cup, worth $20 million, is attracting an increasing number of American horses from a shallow older horse dirt-route division.

It’s no wonder the Grade 3, $250,000 Mineshaft on Saturday has as its 3-1 morning-line favorite the 5-year-old horse Best Actor, whose lone stakes win came two summers ago in the Grade 3 Smarty Jones. Second choice on the line at 4-1 is Gasoline, fifth and eighth the two times he raced in stakes competition.

Nine were entered in the 1 1/16-mile Mineshaft, which enigmatic Smile Happy easily would win with anything close to his best race. His best, however, might be deeply buried.

Smile Happy peaked last May in the Alysheba Stakes, where he beat Grade 1 stalwarts Art Collector and West Will Power. His 110 Beyer Speed Figure that day drowns anything his Mineshaft competition has produced, but a long-layoff comeback Jan. 20 in the Louisiana Stakes produced a dull sixth-place finish from Smile Happy, beaten nearly 11 lengths, showing no spark.

The horse’s issues originate in his brain, not his body. Smile Happy, even while he was performing at a high level, occasionally would refuse to train, and in the Stephen Foster last July, he declined to walk forward to the starting gate and had to be pushed backward through the homestretch to be loaded. His trainer, Kenny McPeek, took the horse to his farm in Florida for a long period of quiet re-education. In the Louisiana, Smile Happy acted up a bit behind the gate but generally behaved decently. “It was a fitness thing, He can be hard to train, and I think he needed the race,” McPeek said. “He’s had a couple nice works since then. Let’s get him back in the game.”

Best Actor didn’t start between September of his 3-year-old season and last June, losing twice before capturing a pair of one-turn mile allowance races in New York and, more recently, Kentucky. Trainer Brad Cox said Best Actor had a relatively minor injury following his Nov. 23 start, but the horse has gotten onto a strong work pattern at Fair Grounds. Cox pointed out that Best Actor hasn’t raced around two turns since his 3-year-old season. A 1 1/16-mile race where he’s the lone speed, as appears likely, could make him tough to catch.

Gasoline scored a breakthrough allowance race win Nov. 4 at Churchill and, trainer Todd Pletcher conceded, probably ran back too quickly when he finished fifth 20 days later in the Grade 2 Clark Stakes. He had early trouble in the Harlan’s Holiday on Dec. 30 at Gulfstream and never got into the race.

“He’s quirky and inconsistent, but when he has a good day, he’s pretty good,” Pletcher said.

Red Route One finished second last month in the Louisiana, a half-length in front of third-place Happy American. Neil Pessin, Happy American’s trainer, figures the finishing positions might have been reversed had Red Route One rallied outside like Happy American. The thing about Happy American, a dead closer, is that he requires an outside run. Both horses might better suit a 1 1/8-mile race.

Notary, Dubyuhnell, and Money Supply can’t be ruled out of Mineshaft contention – not when all the best horses in a thin division are racing elsewhere.

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