RUNHAPPY’s Circus was an all-the-way winner at Fair Grounds on Wednesday to give RUNHAPPY a 10th victor from his first crop.
Made the race favorite in his first start as a 3-year-old, the $230,000 yearling purchase wasted no time going to the lead in the one mile dirt race over a fast track. With Shaun Bridgmohan aboard, Circus was joined on the front end early on but quickly shrugged off that rival in the first turn. Racing freely, Circus eagerly opened up over five lengths on the field by the time they hit the backstretch.
In the stretch, Circus showed he had inherited his sire’s determination to hold off a late charge and win by 1 ½ lengths for trainer Matt Shirer.
Purchased by his racing owner D.J. Stable for $230,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale, the Judy B. Hicks-bred Circus is a half-brother to BLAME’s Grade 1 winner Fault and two other stakes horses out of the stakes winning mare Charming N Lovable.
Charming N Lovable is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Manana Mclir and stakes winner Big Sur among four stakes horses out of her stakes-placed dam St Lucinda. St Lucinda is also the granddam of ALGORITHMS’ stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed South Bend, three-time Grade 1 winner Bast, and Grade 2 winner Fioretti.