Happy Farm Returns a Winner in Laurel Feature Friday
Happy Farm Returns a Winner in Laurel Feature Friday
Hall of Famer Prado Moves Within Five Wins of 7,000
Apprentice Hamilton Rides Two Winners to Tie for Meet Lead
Rainbow 6 Solved for $13,401 Jackpot Payoff
LAUREL, MD – Sagamore Farm’s Happy Farm, unraced since last fall, made a triumphant return to competition by putting away Grade 3-placed favorite Old Time Revival at the top of the stretch and sprinting clear to a 3 ¾-length victory in Friday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park.
With jockey Steve ‘Cowboy’ Hamilton at the controls, Happy Farm ($9.80) ran six furlongs in 1:10.72 over a muddy main track in the $42,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up to earn his fourth win from six career starts and third in five tries at the distance.
“I didn’t do much but steer him,” Hamilton said. “They wanted him to kind of be put to task early on and leave there running. You’ve got a game plan but everything’s got to work out, too, and everything did. I couldn’t have asked for more from the horse. He settled in behind the leader and when it was time to go he went to running and put him away.”
Happy Farm, a 4-year-old son of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper out of the Holy Bull mare Gospel Girl, broke on top but quickly settled into second as 1-2 favorite Old Time Revival sprinted to the front from his far outside post to lead through fractions of 22.42 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.71 for the half.
Hamilton swung Happy Farm outside the leader around the turn and they straightened for home together before Happy Farm assumed command and drew off. Hill Shadow came running late for second over Old Time Revival, runner-up in the Miracle Wood at Laurel and the Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct before tiring to eighth in the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial (G2) last out April 7.
Bred in Florida, Happy Farm had not raced since finishing seventh behind stakes winner and Grade 3-placed Uncontested in a second-level optional claimer going six furlongs Sept. 17 at Churchill Downs. Prior to that he had won two straight starts including a hard-fought neck victory over older horses in an open Saratoga allowance Aug. 14.
Happy Farm gave trainer Horacio Depaz his seventh winner from 13 starters at the winter-spring meet, which concludes Sunday May 6.
“I thought he was going to need the race because he’s been off since last year, but he tries,” trainer Horacio Depaz said by phone from Churchill, where he is overseeing a string of 19 horses for Sagamore. “I don’t know what happened in his last race. I don’t think he handled the ship to Churchill after running at Saratoga and the effort he put in up there. That was a nice horse that won at Churchill so we gave him some time off and he was able to fire off the layoff so that was nice to see.
“I wouldn’t say he’s the smoothest or the best-looking horse you can have in the barn but he just tries in the afternoon. He has a lot of heart to run,” he added. “He needs to be ridden aggressively early on and if you get him into the race, he’s going to try to compete there at the end. It was little questionable if he was going to like the mud. It rained a lot this morning but handled it all.”
Sky Chaparral finished fourth, followed by Swingstage, Lacrostix and Johnny Hop.
In Friday’s co-feature, Roddy Harrison’s homebred Clouded Judgement ($7.80) turned back an early challenge from Tempt Me Twice and held off a late bid from Best Yes to win the 10th race, a $42,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up. Trained by Lacey Gaudet, Clouded Judgement ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:04.31.
Rainbow 6 Solved for $13,401 Jackpot Payoff
Lady Olivia Northcliff homebred Macue ($6.60) dueled with Zeke the Streak through the stretch before edging away late to take the 11th race finale and give one lucky bettor a jackpot carryover payoff of $13,400.78 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6.
Macue was one of four horses alive to take down the popular multi-race wager, hitting the wire in 1:41.01 to complete the winning 3-10-11-7-5-5 combination.
The Rainbow 6 begins anew Saturday spanning Races 7-12 and includes four races scheduled over Laurel’s world-class turf course. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
There will be a carryover of $2,364.81 Saturday in the 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 8-12), featuring an industry-low 12 percent takeout. Tickets with four of five winners Friday returned $53.20.
Notes: Jockey Ricardo Chiappe picked up a pair of winners Friday with Greeleys Copy ($4.40) in the second race and Durango Girl ($6.40) in the fifth. Both Durango Girl and Bad Angle Burke ($4) in the first are trained by Linda Albert … Apprentice Wes Hamilton rode Bad Angle Burke and Greely’s Striker ($6.60) in the third, tying him with Jorge Vargas Jr. for the winter-spring meet lead at 44 victories … Hall of Famer Edgar Prado won the fourth race aboard Belle ‘n Tonic ($17), his 6,995th career victory.
