Smile Happy responding well to time off, eyeing Pegasus World Cup

The 4-year-old colt Smile Happy, who ran one of the fastest races this year winning the Alysheba Stakes in May, has been getting his mind right at trainer Kenny McPeek’s farm in Florida in preparation for a 2024 campaign.

Smile Happy didn’t race for 10 months after finishing eighth in the 2022 Kentucky Derby. The Alysheba, on May 5, was his third start following the long break and in it Smile Happy made manifest the vast unexpressed reserve of talent he’d hinted at throughout his career, winning by two lengths with an elite 110 Beyer Speed Figure.

Smile Happy, however, is a quirky horse, sometimes unwilling to train and requiring strictly regimented patterns to go through regular morning exercise. His mental challenges surfaced before the Stephen Foster Stakes on July 1 at Ellis Park. During the warm-up period, Smile Happy refused to move forward and had to be backed up to the starting gate. Eventually, he participated in the Stephen Foster but could only finish fifth.

McPeek took the horse off the track to work with him in a more relaxed environment than the racetrack, and Smile Happy has responded favorably, McPeek said. The horse is training and if all went well could be aimed at the Pegasus World Cup early next year.

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