Smile Happy's reputation has grown while he has rested

The 3-year-old colt Smile Happy hasn’t started since late November, but since Jan. 22 his form, impressive enough already, has shined even brighter.

Call Me Midnight, seventh in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 27, won the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 22 at Fair Grounds. On Feb. 5, White Abarrio, third in the Kentucky Jockey Club, won the Holy Bull Stakes by more than four lengths. And Feb. 12, Classic Causeway produced an excellent performance winning the Sam Davis Stakes, his first start since a second-place Kentucky Jockey Club finish.

Smile Happy crunched all three of them when he won the Kentucky Jockey Club by more than three lengths. Now it’s time to see how he has wintered.

Smile Happy worked five furlongs Saturday at Gulfstream Park in 1:01.62, came out of the breeze in good shape, and ships Wednesday to Fair Grounds, where he’ll start favored Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star.

“He had a smooth winter,” said Kenny McPeek, who trains Smile Happy for the Mackin family’s Lucky Seven Stables. “He went straight from Kentucky to our training center in Ocala.”

Smile Happy did his major Risen Star work in company but went by himself in his final tune-up. As usual, he accelerated nicely through the finish and into the clubhouse turn.

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“I didn’t think he needed much; he’s fit,” said McPeek, who quickly vanned Smile Happy back to his Silverleaf Training Center, where he was to gallop three days before shipping to New Orleans.

In two races, Smile Happy emerged as a budding star. He debuted last October at Keeneland, bursting between horses with a flashy turn of foot on the far turn to win by more than five lengths. In the Kentucky Jockey Club, Smile Happy rated comfortably on the outside, stalking the pace before driving clear in upper stretch.

“He’s been super easy from the beginning, just a very easy horse to be around, very intelligent, low maintenance, doesn’t have any quirks, loves to eat – a trainer’s dream,” McPeek said. “He’s professional and push button. Ask him to sit inside horses, he’ll do it, go outside, and he’ll do it.

“He split a gap at Keeneland, then jumped straight into [the Kentucky Jockey Club] and did what he did. It’s rare air.”

Smile Happy is by Runhappy out of Pleasant Smile, by Pleasant Tap. His two siblings to race, Wilko Rum and Willy Smile, both ran for claiming prices of $5,000 or lower. Pleasant Smile raced in a $5,000 maiden-claimer her second start and earned $15,000 in a 12-race career. Nonetheless, Smile Happy sold for $175,000 as a weanling and $185,000 when Lucky Seven, on McPeek’s advice, bought him as a yearling.

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“Anywhere I go I look for the specimen before the pedigree. I think this horse has a good cross, speed on top and stamina on the bottom, which is what I look for,” McPeek said.

Dirt stamina influences lace Smile Happy’s female family: Stage Door Johnny, Graustark, Pleasant Colony. In his races and works, Smile Happy never seems to tire, and McPeek starts him out in a 1 1/8-mile contest with the Triple Crown squarely sited.

“These next two starts are more fitness for us than anything. I like to think I could bring him into the Derby, Preakness, Belmont with two runs,” McPeek said.

Smile Happy’s connections haven’t settled on a race following the Risen Star. McPeek and Lucky Seven also have Rattle N Roll, unraced since winning the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and a candidate for the Fountain of Youth Stakes or the Tampa Bay Derby.

“We’ve got a list of choices for Smile Happy,” McPeek said. “He could come back in the Louisiana Derby, the Florida Derby, or the Blue Grass.”

Three horses already have exited the Kentucky Jockey Club to win Derby preps. We’ll see Saturday if a fourth makes his connections smile.