By Steve Sherack
Having acquired a spot in the starting gate for next year's inaugural $12-million GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 28, owner Jim McIngvale plans on stretching out his defending champion sprinter Runhappy (Super Saver) upon his return to the races later this fall.
“We're talking about running him in maybe the [six-furlong GII] Phoenix S. [Oct. 7] like we did last year at Keeneland–that would be a good place [to return],” McIngvale commented. “If he's not ready, we might just train him up to the [GI] Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile [at Santa Anita], and if he's not ready for that, we'll look to the [1 1/8-mile GI] Clark H. [at Churchill Downs Nov. 25]. We're putting up the money for the Pegasus, so we need to go 1 1/8 miles.”
Runhappy, an eventful ninth in his lone route attempt in the 2015 GIII LeComte S. at second asking, followed an 11-1 upset in Saratoga's GI King's Bishop S. with a sharp win in a sloppy renewal of the Phoenix, contested as a Grade III in 2015. The bay went on to close out the campaign with popular scores in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland Oct. 31 and the seven-furlong GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Dec. 26.
Sidelined in June with a bone bruise, Runhappy is currently back in training with Laura Wohlers at her Kentucky base.
“He's back in training for about a week to 10 days and he's doing good,” McIngvale revealed. “He's down there at the Kentucky Training Center with Laura [Wohlers] and Cordell [Anderson]. I was with him in Lexington the other day–he's doing great, moving forward very quickly.”
While not ready to speculate when Runhappy could return to the worktab, McIngvale was very optimistic from what he witnessed in person earlier this week.
“I'm not a horse expert–I'm leaving that up to my sister-in-law Laura,” he replied with a slight chuckle when asked how far away Runhappy was from breezing. “She's very cautious with the horse, so when he looks like he's ready to go again, he'll go. He tried to run off with the rider a couple of times, so that's a good sign. He's doing fine.”
Runhappy isn't the only horse that has McIngvale looking forward to the future.
While in town for a meeting with the Stronach Group to discuss details for the aforementioned world's richest race, McIngvale went to $500,000 to land a son of the mighty Frankel (GB) out of champion She Be Wild at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale. Consigned by Bluewater Sales LLC, Agent XXV, the dark bay was bred in Kentucky by Nancy Mazzoni.
“I thought it would be a waste of time [to bid on him] because we didn't have the budget, especially given his pedigree,” McIngvale admitted. “So I got on the phone with the Fasig-Tipton guys–I was already back in Houston–and they said, 'Do you want to bid $500,000?' I said, 'Why not?' because I figured it would go to a million [dollars] and next thing I know, I bought the horse. We're excited about it. We'll see how he does.”
McIngvale concluded, “He's going to get a stall right next to Runhappy. So, hopefully Runhappy can coach him up on how to be a champion.”
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