Runhappy ends layoff as Ack Ack's strong favorite

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Finally, he’s back.

Some nine months after Runhappy last flaunted his considerable talent before the racing public, the colt returns Saturday at Churchill Downs as a huge favorite in the Grade 3 Ack Ack, one of three stakes on an 11-race card.

“We think we’ve got him about as prepared as he can be,” said Laura Wohlers, who trains the 4-year-old Runhappy for her brother-in-law, Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale. “He’s fairly ready, I’d say, and actually might be a little vulnerable because of the layoff. But he has been doing very well in his training.”

Runhappy will face no more than five others in the $100,000 Ack Ack, a one-mile race being used as a lone prep for the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita. His regular rider, Edgar Prado, will be in from Maryland for the mount.

Tom’s Ready, the winner of the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park in June, appears to be the top candidate to pull off a major upset, although the 3-year-old colt has not been fully committed to the Ack Ack because Dallas Stewart also is considering the $350,000 Kelso Handicap next Saturday at Belmont.

McIngvale and Wohlers intended to have Runhappy make his seasonal debut here nearly five months ago in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, but the colt was hampered at the time by a foot bruise. He subsequently was diagnosed with mild bruising in a cannon bone, further delaying his comeback.

But with a series of workouts since late August, including a six-furlong drill here Sept. 15 that came with Prado aboard after the colt was vanned in from his Lexington base, Runhappy is now embarking on a campaign of longer races. Assuming all goes well in the Ack Ack and BC Dirt Mile, Wohlers has penciled in one interim prep leading up to the $12 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park.

“Mac bought him as a distance horse,” Wohlers said. “He certainly has a pedigree for distance. He’s just so unbelievably fast, which is why we sprinted him last year, but he does have a very long, fluid stride and moves like a horse that’ll go a route of ground. We have no qualms about him going long. Maybe we’ll be proven wrong, but we feel confident he can do it.”

Runhappy has been one of the most dynamic and highly regarded horses on the North American racing scene since his breakthrough victory in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop on the 2015 Travers program at Saratoga. He went on to earn a 2015 Eclipse Award as top sprinter while also being a finalist for Horse of the Year and top 3-year-old male – honors swept by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah – with an element of human drama also heightening interest in the colt.

The day after the colt won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland, McIngvale fired trainer Maria Borell, replacing her with Wohlers. The move produced a firestorm of criticism, although that quieted considerably after allegations of animal abuse and other legal charges were leveled against Borell, who remains a fugitive of justice.

“I don’t pay any attention to social media or any of that,” Wohlers said. “I’m just here to take care of the horse.”

Besides Runhappy and Tom’s Ready, the Ack Ack drew Iron Fist, The Truth Or Else, Mr. Z, and Schivarelli. Of those, Schivarelli, a winner of a Saratoga allowance two starts back, probably will draw the most wagering action.

First post Saturday is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the Ack Ack going at 4:49 as the ninth race. Also on tap are the $100,000 Jefferson Cup (race 7), which drew a well-matched field of 3-year-old turf routers, and the $175,000 Lukas Classic (race 10), which drew Bradester and Noble Bird among a field of nine older horses.

The 11-day September meet ends with a Sunday card. Keeneland starts its 17-day fall meet Friday, Oct. 7.

KEY CONTENDERS

Runhappy, by Super Saver
Last 3 Beyers: 102-108-104

◗ His all-around superiority figures to make him something in the neighborhood of 1-5 odds, depending on whether Tom’s Ready stays in the race, with his freshness and natural speed likely to make him a race-long presence.

Tom’s Ready, by More Than Ready
Last 3 Beyers: 86-95-78

◗ He has knocked heads with the top of his class all year, and his late kick would make him a threat in the final stages of this race if Runhappy somehow runs off in ridiculous fractions.