Just over a year and a half after the retirement of Hot Rod Charlie—who earned just shy of $6 million, most by any horse sired by the 2013 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Oxbow —trainer Doug O'Neill is having success with another son of the Calumet Farm stallion.
Happy Jack, owned and bred by Calumet Farm out of the Tapit mare Tapitstry, won the June 1 Triple Bend Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park and races for O'Neill July 27 in the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar. The trainer also runs Ilium Stables' Anarchist, winner of the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) last summer at Del Mar and, most recently, sixth in his season debut in the June 29 Kelly's Landing Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Happy Jack, a 5-year-old bay—who two years ago was 14th in the Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs—has performed like a rejuvenated horse this year.
Before winning the seven-furlong Triple Bend under Edwin Maldonado by 4 1/2 lengths, he was a comeback second to California star The Chosen Vron when returning from almost a 10-month layoff in the 6 1/2-furlong Kona Gold Stakes there April 27. Both races were run in quick time, generating high-quality speed and performance figures.
O'Neill credits Calumet Farm for their patience after the horse needed time following an unsuccessful two-race campaign at age 4.
"He's come back a different animal and one we all think of as a grade 1, one-turn horse," the trainer said.
He is the second graded/group-winning sprinter for Oxbow this year, whose son Tuz captured the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in late March at Meydan.
Now comes Happy Jack's grade 1 opportunity in the $400,000 Bing Crosby. The six-furlong race is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series event that provides the victor with an expense-paid berth in the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Del Mar.
To win Saturday, Happy Jack and Anarchist face the daunting task of trying to upend defending race winner and likely favorite The Chosen Vron, who has compiled a near-flawless 13-for-14 record since September 2022. His sole defeat over that stretch came when he was fifth in last fall's Breeder's Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita Park.
But Happy Jack finished just three-quarters of a length behind him in the Kona Gold without a recent race under his belt.
Speaking of The Chosen Vron, O'Neill said, "He's a hard horse to beat if it's just you and him eyeballing each other inside the eighth pole."
He knows that full well, watching as Anarchist came up a head short of The Chosen Vron in the 2023 Bing Crosby.
Anarchist's only race of 2024 did not unfold favorably in the Kelly's Landing.
The 5-year-old son of Distorted Humor was "in a real heated pace in his comeback race at Churchill about a month or so ago, and we're hoping he really moves forward off that, and he seems to like Del Mar, as well," O'Neill said.
The Bing Crosby is the first start at Del Mar for Happy Jack, who has largely raced at O'Neill's Santa Anita base and in Kentucky, where O'Neill also keeps a division of runners.
Happy Jack qualified for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby in 2022 after a pair of thirds in Derby preps in the San Felipe Stakes (G2) and Santa Anita Derby (G1).
Then after an eighth-place finish in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes (G1), O'Neill began pointing him toward shorter races. He was moderately successful over the remainder of his 3-year-old year, less so in two starts at age 4, and now appears better than ever at age 5. He is 3-2-3 in 13 career starts with earnings of $445,560.
While Happy Jack is untested at Del Mar, O'Neill and Anarchist are not. The latter's two starts there last year were stellar, and the 56-year-old O'Neill is a six-time leading trainer at the seaside oval. The fourth-winningest trainer in Del Mar history behind Baffert, John Sadler, and the late Mike Mitchell, he entered this race week tied atop the training leaderboard with Michael McCarthy, Baffert, and Mark Glatt with three wins. O'Neill scored his trio of victories July 21 after winning a race at Sacramento a day earlier.
Earlier this year, he topped the Classic Meet standings at Santa Anita.
In addition to running Happy Jack and Anarchist in the Bing Crosby at Del Mar Saturday, O'Neill brings R3 Racing's Katonah off the bench in the San Diego Handicap (G2). He has not started since winning the Pleasanton Mile Stakes just over a year ago.
"Del Mar is always a tricky place to win races, kind of like Saratoga, right? Everyone's fresh and dropping down, and everyone wants to win at Del Mar or Saratoga," O'Neill said. "So, just very grateful that we got three wins on Sunday, and hopefully we can keep it going."
