It was a new juvenile stakes winner for RUNHAPPY Saturday evening when Won Happy Mama won the Iowa Sorority Stakes in her third start.
A winner on debut in July, the filly broke a step slowly out of the gate but quickly went for the lead in the six-furlong dirt race. Dueling with two others, that battle soon turned into a two-horse race around the turn. Both early rivals dropped back as the field entered the stretch, but Won Happy Mama wasn’t yet out of danger as they raced to the line.
Another runner barreled after her and was able to get close, but Won Happy Mama still had a neck on her at the end in a determined finish.
Trained by co-owner Travis Swan Murphy, Won Happy Mama is also owned by Matt Trent and Poindexter Thoroughbreds. The filly showed plenty of promise from the start with a 5 ½ length debut win at a furlong shorter than this distance over the same track.
Hailing from Kenneth White’s breeding program, Won Happy Mama is out of the stakes-placed Vicarious Won. That mare has also produced the Grade 2 winner Anarchist among her five winners from six to race.
Vicarious Won is out of the stakes winning Win With A Wink, who is one of three stakes winners out of her own dam With a Win. With A Win won a Grade 2 as a racemare and has seen many of her daughters also produce stakes performers and the dams of stakes performers.
RUNHAPPY is the sire of seven juvenile stakes winners and 50 juvenile winners overall with that group led by this year’s Grade 1 Hopeful winner Nutella Fella.