Get Happy Mister made owner Annette Bishop very happy when slipping up the
rail to take Sunday’s $100,500
San
Simeon S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park by one-length with jockey Tyler Baze in
the irons.
“Right now, there weren’t a lot of choices,” trainer Mark Tsagalakis
explained when asked about trying Get Happy Mister on the turf. “The horse was
doing super. It was time to let him rock and roll. It was fun. This is my first
stakes win.
“Too many to count, probably close to 25 years,” he added when asked how many
years he’s been training. “I’ve won some races, but never a stakes. The
race came up, he was ready to go, we were eligible for it, it was like ‘Let’s
give it a try.’ We had him out on the turf the other day, he seemed to like it,
and he did.
“The plan is to go back home to Colorado and then come back here in the fall
and run here again. We’ll play it by ear but that was the original plan and
we’ll just enjoy it for now and think about that next week.”
“I have a very good trainer. He calls the shots,” smiled Bishop, who is
Tsagalakis’ mother-in-law. “I bought (Get Happy Mister) at a two-year-old sale in Arapahoe. I’ve been
in the business about 14 or 15 years.
“He has a little history with his name, Get
Happy Mister. We were sitting at the auction and I was with my trainer, Butch
Gleason. He was getting nervous because everyone was bidding on him. I just
said, ‘What? What’s your problem? Do you want that horse?’ He said ‘Yes!’ so I
said ‘then get happy!’ and that’s how he was named.
“He’s been a joy. I don’t know his limits and after today, I have no idea.
I’m just amazed that he did as well as he did today. He’s just been training out
of his skin. It’s all due to Mark, he takes his time. He takes his pulse every
two hours.”
Get Happy Mister and Baze first rushed up into contention when the gates opened, joining Pure
Tactics (Pure Prize) and Sweet Swap (Candy Ride) on the front end, but Baze
managed to wrestle his mount back into a tracking spot as those two
battled it out through splits of ::22, :43 4/5 and 1:07.
Holy Lute (Midnight Lute) ranged up to join Get Happy Mister on the outside
as the field passed over the dirt crossing, but then the pair separated upon
reaching the longtime leaders.
Holy Lute passed on the outside while Get Happy Mister took the inside route,
shimmying up the rail to be first under the wire and finish about 6 1/2 furlongs
on the downhill turf in 1:13. The bay gelding, who was making his turf debut in
this spot, was sent off the 12-1 second
longest shot in the seven-horse field and returned $27.20 for earning his first
graded victory.
“He was really nice
to ride, a really classy horse,” Baze said. “I’ve never been on him but I watched all his
replays and rode him accordingly. It looks like he can do anything; he loves to
run.
“I let him run out of there and had a beautiful trip. When Pure Tactics and
Sweet Swap hooked up in front of me and opened up five I knew they were flying.
I just took my time. When the time was right he just…he’s so big and
strong and he has a huge stride. Just a really classy horse.”
Get Happy Mister, who moved his current win streak to six straight with the
San Simeon score, has done quite well for himself. He’s racked up a 14-11-0-0
career mark that now includes nine stakes wins and has banked $384,928 in
lifetime earnings.
The five-year-old bay opened his career by romping in his four starts
at Arapahoe Park to be undefeated as a juvenile. He suffered his first loss when
shipping to Oaklawn Park to kick off his sophomore season, but rebounded to take
the Northern Spur S. before traveling to Prairie Meadows and finishing fourth
against allowance rivals in what would be his 2013 finale.
Get Happy Mister nearly went undefeated in 2014, just missing when fourth in
Santa Anita’s Santana Mile in his season opener, but shipped back to Arapahoe
Park and began his current win streak in May.
Bred in Colorado by Willard Burbach, Get Happy Mister is the first registered
stakes winner out of the stakes-placed Sara Margaret (Elusive Quality) and
brought $46,000 at the Colorado August sale. Sara Margaret is a half-sister to a
number of stakes scorers, including Personal Beau (Personal Flag), Sabona’s Beau
(Sabona) and Socko (Air Forbes Won). Farther back this female family also
includes champion Hurry to Market and Grade 1 heroine Delighter (Lypheor).
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