Skyler’s Scramjet tops field in Run happy Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Skyler’s Scramjet was no match for Army Mule in the Grade 1 Carter last month at Aqueduct. Then again, no one else was, either.

On Saturday, there will be no Army Mule or anyone of his caliber in the field when Skyler’s Scramjet heads a field of six in the $150,000 Runhappy Stakes at six furlongs at Belmont Park. The Runhappy, formerly known as the Diablo, will go as race 8 on Saturday’s 11-race card.

Prior to the Carter, Skyler’s Scramjet had won four of five starts for trainer Michelle Nevin, including the Grade 3 Tom Fool at six furlongs, a distance at which Skyler’s Scramjet is 4 for 4.

Throughout the winter, Nevin had said she was heartened to see Skyler’s Scramjet become more relaxed early in his races. That style should help him in a field that looks to have ample speed with Westwood and Green Gratto likely to be on the front end.

Skyler’s Scramjet will break from the rail under Trevor McCarthy.

Great Stuff rallied from next to last in the Carter to edge Skyler’s Scramjet for third. Part-owner and trainer David Jacobson tried Great Stuff on the turf in the Elusive Quality on April 28, but the son of Quality Road finished ninth of 10.

Great Stuff seems to prefer seven furlongs to six.

King Kranz is 2 for 2 for Rudy Rodriguez and jumps back into stakes company for the first time since the 2017 Carter. He won the Gold Fever Stakes going six furlongs in the slop at Belmont in 2016.

Always Sunshine, who won the 2016 Maryland Sprint Handicap, makes his first start since running second in the Hockessin Stakes at Delaware Park last July.

Rice duo tops Vagrancy

Holiday Disguise and Sounds Delicious give trainer Linda Rice a solid 1-2 punch in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Vagrancy Handicap for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Belmont Park.

Holiday Disguise and Sounds Delicious crossed the finish line first and second in the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct on April 6. Sounds Delicious, however, was disqualified from first and placed fourth for a bumping incident in the stretch.

Holiday Disguise was the beneficiary of the hot pace Sounds Delicious helped establish in the Distaff and is likely to do so again Saturday. Sounds Delicious, who breaks from the rail, is likely to get pressure from Chalon, who is in drawn in post 3.

Holiday Disguise, a New York-bred daughter of Harlan’s Holiday, has five wins and a second from seven career starts. She was scratched from the Grade 2 Ruffian here a week ago. That race was run at one mile.

“My filly ran a huge race last time,” Rice said of Holiday Disguise. “I thought she may not reproduce that effort and I didn’t want to do it at a mile against that crowd.”

Sounds Delicious, who gets a rider change to Jose Ortiz, has also won five of seven starts. Prior to the disqualification in the Distaff, she won the Correction Stakes by eight lengths at Aqueduct.

Chalon won the Jersey Girl Stakes here last year when in Peter Miller’s barn. Now with Arnaud Delacour, Chalon makes her second start of the year, having won the Primonetta at Laurel on April 21.

“I was very happy with her comeback race,” Delacour said. “She was training well, maybe a breeze or two short, but she didn’t run that way. She galloped out well, wasn’t very tired. I wasn’t sure about the Vagrancy coming back in three weeks, but she’s training very well and it’s a short field. Probably a good place to run her.”

Completing the field are Swing and Sway, winner of the Carousel Stakes at Oaklawn last out; Kirby’s Penny, a winner of three of four starts since being claimed by Wesley Ward; and Ascertain.

DEBRA A. ROMA Skyler’s Scramjet, who won the Tom Fool Handicap on March 10, faces five rivals in the Runhappy.