It was a second straight stakes victory for RUNHAPPY’s 3-year-old son Rotknee, who took home the Ontario County Stakes on Wednesday.
The six furlong Finger Lakes stakes saw Rotknee go off as favorite for good reason. The colt had to deal with some trouble at the break when another horse bumped into him from the outside but he quickly regained his footing to shoot to the lead.
Rotknee was much the best at every stage of the run, steadily opening up lengths on the field with every stride. By the end, he was 12 ¾ lengths the best with the third placed horse over 15 ¾ lengths back for his fourth win in five starts this year.
The RUNHAPPY colt is trained by Mike Maker for owner-breeder William Butler and has only had two losses in his seven-race career – one of those coming when finishing an inexperienced second on debut and the other on a synthetic surface. In all, those seven starts have seen him take home $256,600 in earnings with three stakes victories.
Rotknee is one of two stakes performers for the Speightstown mare In Spite of Mama, who also produced the multiple stakes-placed Lookin For Trouble. In Spite of Mama is a three-quarter sister to Grade 1 winner Haynesfield and half-sister to multiple stakes winner A Freud of Mama.