Sam Houston: Champion Runhappy to greet hometown crowd

The champion Runhappy will resume serious training within the next two weeks, but before he does, he’s hosting a Friday night party at Sam Houston Race Park. Runhappy will be paraded on the track following the third race, then will be available to meet fans from a temporary stall constructed near the pavilion. The horse is owned by Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale and his wife, Linda, who are residents of Houston.

“Runhappy is going to be there in front of the hometown crowd,” Jim McIngvale said. “We want everybody to get a chance to see him and take a picture with him. He’s a very calm horse for as fast as he is.”

Runhappy won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, King’s Bishop, Malibu, and Phoenix en route to notching the Eclipse Award for champion sprinter of 2015. The honor was a first for the McIngvales.

“It’s been a long journey, 25 years at it,” said Jim McIngvale. “It was great to see the horse come through in all those races. He’s a terrific horse.”

Runhappy was freshened at a Texas farm following the Malibu on Dec. 26 and is now jogging at a facility in Austin, Texas, said McIngvale. The horse will ship back to Austin following Friday’s event but in about a week to 10 days will return to Sam Houston. McIngvale said the horse will train at Sam Houston in March before shipping to his base at the Thoroughbred Center training facility near Keeneland.

“We’d like to run him in the seven-furlong race at Churchill on Derby Day,” McIngvale said.

The Grade 2, $500,000 Churchill Downs is May 7.

The race is expected to be the first start of the year for Runhappy, but when asked, McIngvale said he would not rule out running in the Grade 3, $400,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at six furlongs April 10 at Oaklawn.

“It just depends on how fast he comes along,” McIngvale said, adding that race decisions would be made by trainer Laura Wohlers. “We’re not going to rush him.”

The McIngvales plan to give away T-shirts and hats to those who visit Runhappy on Friday.

◗ Sam Houston will host a Roses to Ribbons horse fair Saturday, during which prospective buyers can purchase racehorses nearing the end of their careers. The horses will be showcased in the paddock beginning at noon Central.

“Trainers will bring horses that are available to the saddling paddock so they can be seen by people interested in Thoroughbreds as show and riding horses,” said event organizer Tracy Sheffield.

There also we be vendors and workshops for owners and buyers. Sheffield said it is an event she is willing to help coordinate for any track in North America.