Santa Anita: So Happy rallies to take Saturday's San Vicente

After a surprise debut win at 38-1, So Happy showed he was no fluke when making his encore Saturday at Santa Anita.

Facing winners for the first time in the Grade 2, $200,000 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds, So Happy surged to the lead inside the final furlong and held off a late charge from 1-2 favorite Buetane to score by two lengths under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

"He backed up that first race with an awesome performance," winning trainer Mark Glatt said.

So Happy (5-2) and Buetane found themselves at the rear of the field shortly after the start. Racing to the lead under Kazushi Kimura was Acknowledgemeplz (7-1), who was cutting back to a sprint and adding blinkers for trainer Doug O'Neill following a fourth-place finish in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) going 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 13. Acknowledgemeplz went the opening quarter-mile in 22.03 seconds with Greenwich Village (8-1) and jockey Hector Berrios applying pressure from the inside.

Entering the turn, Kimura and Acknowledgemeplz spurted away from the field through a fast opening half-mile of 43.56 seconds. It was at that point So Happy took aim at the leader. He began to steadily make up ground with Buetane in close pursuit.

Acknowledgemeplz continued to lead through six furlongs in 1:08.41. But in the final furlong, So Happy sped past the leader and then dug in gamely to hold off Buetane for the victory. The winning time was 1:21.12 on the fast main track.

"He was just so excited out there, he was 'So Happy,'" Smith said. "I was really happy with the way he handled the seven-eighths because usually that's a pretty good indication they will go two turns. He was well within himself running underneath the wire. I was really happy with the way he did things. I thank Mark and his team and the owners for the opportunity. Who knows, we will see where he takes us."

Buetane, with Juan Hernandez up for trainer Bob Baffert, finished second by 2 1/4 lengths over Acknowledgemeplz. Thirsty Rebel (19-1) and Greenwich Village completed the order of finish.

So Happy is a Runhappy colt owned by Norman Stables LLC and Saints or Sinners. He was purchased for $150,000 at last year's OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training. In his debut going 6 1/2 furlongs on Nov. 22 at Del Mar, So Happy scored the upset by three-quarters of a length when coming from just off the pace.

"We liked the horse quite a bit," Glatt said. "We asked a lot of him first time out. He had to ship down to Del Mar the day he was in. He's kind of a looky-loo in the morning. As a matter of fact, we train him in blinkers every day because he wants to look at everything. I just thought maybe he's a horse that may need to race a little bit."

Rather than needing racing, So Happy is 2-for-2 with a Grade 2 win on his resume. The likely next step will be a test around two turns ahead of a potential date in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) going 1 1/8 miles on April 4. The next races in Santa Anita's stakes series for 3-year-olds on dirt are the Robert B. Lewis (G3) going one mile on Feb. 7 and the San Felipe (G2) going 1 1/16 miles on March 7.

So Happy paid $7.80, $2.60 and $2.20. Buetane returned $2.10 and $2.10 to place. Acknowledgemeplz paid $2.80 to show.