Runhappy

Even if most racing is delayed, we're all hoping it will get underway sometime this spring or early summer, if for no other reason than so we can all find out the answer to our annual favorite question. We surveyed some top judges on who their leading first-crop sire is, and to give us some under-the-radar picks as well. Since we are a moderate-scale operation, I often feel that there are young sires that I have coveted after but I am unable to attain anything from their first crop. This...

I am going to pick Runhappy as my leading freshman sire. Unfortunately, I do not have any of them in the barn. We seemed to get outrun on all of the one ones that we wanted. I vetted a lot of them at the yearling sales and really liked them physically. He was a very fast horse himself and it looks like he is going to pass that trait on. My under-the-radar stallion would be Not This Time. We had a filly slated for Gulfstream that could be any kind...

All week in this ongoing series, we have been talking to stallion managers and others about the difficulties in filling books for stallions other than first-year and premier stallions. In terms of the difficulties of filling books for third- and fourth-year stallions, I would say that we have been lucky this hasn't really been a problem at Claiborne. However, I have seen it be tricky for some of our less-expensive stallions. The different incentive programs that other farms offer have probably hurt us because breeders can breed elsewhere for deep...

Chris McGrath's Value Sires series in the TDN has frequently touched on the difficulty in selling nominations to stallions in their third-year at stud, as well as to solid, established stallions standing for a moderate fee. We asked stallion managers and nominations teams as well as bloodstock agents what changes could be made, if any, to help the situation. Peter Bradley, Bradley Thoroughbred Brokerage It all comes down to the fact that there is too much supply on the market. We have followed this path over the last 40 years...

Approximately $70,000 was raised by the Jockeys and Jeans Stallion Season Sale for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF), double its 2019 revenues, the organization announced Monday. Over 20 stallion seasons were sold, including a season to Claiborne Farm's Runhappy (Super Saver), which topped proceedings at $25,000. The season was donated by the stallion's owner, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale. Other farms and people that contributed to the successful season sale were:  Airdrie Stud, Adena Springs Farm, Anchor and Hope Farm, Brandywine Farm, Calumet Farm, Castleton Lyons, Darby Dan Farm, Double...

Through the first three installments of this series, we've repeatedly complained about ever-more manic investment in unproven stallions and the resulting potential for chronic deterioration in the gene pool. So we won't reprise the theme today, other than to remark that this situation creates a rather more immediate and specific challenge for the next group under review. Because while second- and third-season stallions can still offer breeders the possibility of riding an early vogue, this lot have just been exposed to the judgment of the yearling market--which history reveals to...

The fifth annual Jockeys and Jeans Stallion Season sale has attracted a host of new and popular stallions, led by Eclipse Award-winning Champion Sprinter Runhappy. The season was donated by his famous Houston owner Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, a major donor to the PDJF. Other popular stallions include Tonalist, Point of Entry, World of Trouble, Mucho Macho Man, Alternation, Army Mule, Oxbow, Upstart, American Freedom, Tapiture, and Adios Charlie and First Dude, the two leading Florida stallions in 2019 by money won. The list of over 50 stallions include those standing...

Officials at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) announced that the 49th annual Eclipse Award Dinner and the night's highest honor, 2019 Horse of the Year, will be sponsored by Claiborne stallion Runhappy (Super Saver), the 2015 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter. "The Eclipse Awards are the most prestigious awards in North American Thoroughbred racing. I know because we won one for Champion Male Sprinter in 2015," said James McIngvale, who campaigned Runhappy to three Grade I victories, including the Breeders' Cup Sprint. "It was the culmination of an unforgettable year and...

Gary and Mary West's Maximum Security (New Year's Day), last-out winner of the TVG.com Haskell Invitational S. at Monmouth Park July 20, breezed a leisurely half-mile in :54 flat Wednesday morning as he works toward a yet-to-be determined next start which could come in either the GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga Aug. 24 or in the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Sept. 21. "I just want to make sure he is 100%," trainer Jason Servis told the Monmouth press office. "He's still not there yet." Servis said a decision...

Lack of clarity isn't the same as lack of quality. A crop that produces a standout sophomore will sometimes be weaker than those, like the current one, that rotate the laurels. Either way, however, we should as usual have a better sense of where we stand after the GI Runhappy Travers S.--where the Classic veterans will either prove themselves to have been too faintly praised, or allow a later developer to come along and pick up the pieces. Certainly the Aug. 24 showdown should help to identify who bears the...

Hronis Racing's Jasikan (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}) has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in winning three of his five starts to date, the product of some bad habits in the stalls, and connections will certainly be hoping their charge gets off to a better start in Sunday's GIII LaJolla H. at Del Mar. A maiden winner over the Dundalk all-weather in two starts for Mick Halford, the dark bay was last away and had to settle for third to pace-pressing Neptune's Storm ( in his stateside debut in...

Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale has been known for his innovative nature, his enthusiasm, his philanthropy and for owning some fast horses. Now, he's about to make his mark as a stallion owner. Runhappy (Super Saver), the brilliant sprinter he owned who won the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and nominated for three Eclipse Awards that year, will be represented for the first time at this fall's breeding stock sales as 23 of his weanlings will go through the ring. Runhappy broke records at Keeneland and Saratoga, while racing 100% medication free....