Lucky Seven Stable's Smile Happy and Phoenix Thoroughbred's Tiz the Bomb breezed sharply in company at Gulfstream Park Jan. 15 toward upcoming starts on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.
While trainer Kenny McPeek has the option to run both in the Feb. 5 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream, he told BloodHorse via text message that his preference for Smile Happy, the undefeated winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), is to send him to Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots for the Feb. 19 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2). Tiz the Bomb, a graded stakes winner on turf who last out was second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), is slated for the Holy Bull.
On Saturday the pair turned in a half-mile work in :46.52, the third-fastest clockings of 84 workouts recorded at the distance on the Gulfstream main track.
Smile Happy and Tiz The Bomb going 1/2 @Gulfstream pic.twitter.com/2BuweWnAck
— Kenny McPeek (@KennyMcPeek) January 15, 2022
"It was a nice maintenance work. They went a little quicker than I wanted them to. I gave them instructions to go in about :48," trainer Kenny McPeek said. "But it's OK. They're doing good."
The breeze was the third in a series of workouts at Gulfstream for the two sophomores since the turn of the year.
"You need a fast horse to go with a fast horse," McPeek said. "You can't work a fast horse with a slow horse."
Smile Happy, a son of Runhappy , has won both of his career starts in going-away style. He closed from far back to break his maiden by 5 1/2 lengths at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 29 at Keeneland, then rallied from mid-pack to capture the Kentucky Jockey Club at the same distance by 3 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs Nov. 27.
Tiz the Bomb broke his maiden on a fast main track at Ellis Park in a mile race originally scheduled for the turf by 14 1/4 lengths July 2. He then captured the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes Sept. 6 and the Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland Oct. 10. The son of Hit It a Bomb concluded his 2021 season with a late-surging second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Nov. 5 at Del Mar.
The Holy Bull is run at 1 1/16 miles and offers qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) on a 10-4-2-1 scale. The 1 1/8-mile Risen Star has points on a 50-20-10-5 scale.
McPeek's Arkansas-based Derby prospect, Dash Attack, is pointed to run next in the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park Jan. 29. It offers points on the same 10-4-2-1 scale as the Holy Bull.
