RUNHAPPY BRINGS LASIX-FREE RÉSUMÉ

Among the oft-discussed issues being pushed back to the forefront of the Thoroughbred racing and bloodstock industry in 2019 are the use of bisphosphonates in young horses (see page 19) and the raceday use of the anti-bleeding medication furosemide.

The Stronach Group, which came under fire this year at Santa Anita after a rash of equine fatalities during its meeting, announced in March that it has plans to phase out the race-day use of furosemide, commonly known as Lasix. In April, a group of racing companies including Churchill Downs, Keeneland, and the New York Racing Association, revealed discussions to phase out race-day Lasix for 2-year-olds in 2020 and for all stakes at the tracks in 2021.

All of that would suit Runhappy just fine. An Eclipse Award champion sprinter, he made all 10 starts of his career without raceday Lasix, winning seven of those outings, with three Grade 1 scores in his championship season of 2015. Runhappy is standing at Claiborne Farm, and his first foals are yearlings entering the major-market commercial arena. Owner James McIngvale believes that Runhappy’s Lasix-free résumé could make him more attractive in the current U.S. climate, as well as to international buyers.

“He’s always been attractive because of his speed, his athleticism, but having the no Lasix his whole career might make him even more attractive to the Europeans and the people who don’t run on Lasix around the world,” McIngvale said. “He ran on hay, oats, and water his entire career, as do all my horses.”

Runhappy has been aggressively promoted even years before his first foals hit the sales and races, with his name attached as a presenting sponsor of stakes on the New York Racing Association circuit and at Del Mar – both of which could be lucrative locations for his future runners. A $100,000 bonus will be paid to any 2-year-old by Runhappy who wins an unrestricted maiden race during the 2020 meets at Saratoga and Del Mar, when the stallion will be among North America’s freshman sire class.

The bonus will presumably bring added interest from buyers for Runhappy’s first yearlings. The stallion, who is by Super Saver, averaged a healthy $148,667 against a $25,000 stud fee from 15 first-crop weanlings sold at public auction in the fall of 2018. He averaged $160,000 from three short yearlings sold earlier this year, and $156,750 for his four yearlings sold at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky summer selected sale to open the traditional summer-fall yearling season. He has four yearlings in the catalog for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected sale.

“It’s an incentive for the buyers, and it’s also a reward for the breeders that have invested in Runhappy,” McIngvale said of the bonus. “Hopefully, it’ll make people more interested in the foals. It should be exciting for the breeders and the buyers and the trainers.”