Runhappy has first starter as sire Thursday at Churchill Downs

As more racing jurisdictions begin to emerge from their pandemic-forced shutdowns, there are more of the traditional early-season opportunities for juveniles – and therefore, more runners starting out for freshman sires. That’s obvious at Churchill Downs, where the second week of the track’s belated spring meeting features Kentucky’s first 2-year-old races, and the first entrants for several freshman sires, including Eclipse Award champion sprinter Runhappy.

Prettyhappy is one of four entrants by freshman sires in an overflow field for the first race on Thursday’s card, a $79,000 maiden special weight for fillies going 4 1/2 furlongs. The filly, who is out of the stakes-winning Stormy Atlantic mare Snow Lass, will carry the colors of owner and breeder Jim McIngvale, who campaigned her sire. She will be saddled by Laura Wohlers, who was Runhappy’s trainer of record for five of his 10 career starts.

Runhappy, by Super Saver, won seven of his 10 career starts, with three Grade 1 scores in his championship season of 2015, highlighted by the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. He covered 127 mares in his first season standing at Claiborne Farm, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred. The young stallion, who has been aggressively promoted for years, averaged $222,190, more than 8.8 times the conception stud fee of $25,000, from 63 first-crop yearlings sold at public auction last year.

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Runhappy's first runners this season will be chasing bonus funds put up by McIngvale at some of the major meets. A $100,000 bonus will be paid to any 2-year-old by Runhappy who wins an unrestricted maiden race during the 2020 meets at Saratoga and Del Mar, known for their strong juvenile races; during the Belmont Park spring-summer meet, with that incentive announced just this month as racing is expected to soon return to that track; and at Kentucky Downs, where Runhappy is the presenting sponsor of the rich turf meeting.

The other juveniles representing first-crop sires Thursday at Churchill Downs are Cool Enough, by 2016 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz, standing at Shadwell; Shake It Out West, by Speightster, standing at WinStar Farm; and Hopeful Princess, by Not This Time, standing at Taylor Made Farm.

Not This Time is one of eight freshman sires to have a starter thus far in North America, with his Screen Star finishing eighth on May 9 at Gulfstream Park. No freshman has broken through with a winner as of yet. The highest-priced freshman in this class was multiple Grade 1 winner Frosted, standing for an advertised fee of $50,000, followed by his Darley stablemate, champion Nyquist, at $40,000. Each of those young stallions has had a third-place finisher at Gulfstream.

Claiborne Farm has another freshman in this class along with Runhappy, and Ironicus will have his first entrant as Friday's card at Churchill Downs begins with a $79,000 open maiden. Cuz, who is by Ironicus and out of the stakes-placed Arch mare Lope, will run as a homebred for Claiborne.

The other juveniles representing first-crop sires in Friday's tilt are Sheriff Bianco, by Speightster; Baytown Beat, by Upstart, standing at Airdrie Stud; and Petit Verdot, by shuttle sire Vancouver's first Northern Hemisphere crop conceived at Coolmore's Ashford Stud.

Australian champion Vancouver's first U.S. starter, Rock With Robin, finished sixth May 14 at Gulfstream. From his first Southern Hemisphere crop, he is already represented by group stakes-placed Postcode, Ticket To Ride, and Vangelic.