Stakes Advance - Ring the Bell
HOT SPRINGS, AR - Happy Is a Choice bids for his first career Oaklawn stakes victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Ring the Bell, which is for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs.
Probable post time for the Ring the Bell, the ninth of 10 races, is 4:14 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:30 p.m.
Trained by John Ortiz, Happy Is a Choice was a two-time allowance winner last season at Oaklawn. He also ran third in the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) last April. All three races were six furlongs.
After the Count Fleet, Happy Is a Choice was an allowance winner June 22 at Churchill Downs and notched his first career stakes victory in his last start, the $300,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society Sept. 14 at Churchill Downs. Both races were six furlongs.
Happy Is a Choice, a 4-year-old gelded son of champion sprinter Runhappy, completed preparations for the Ring the Bell with a half-mile bullet workout (:48) Sunday morning at Oaklawn. He’s the 2-1 program favorite in the seven-horse field.
“He likes time between his races,” said Ortiz, who trains Happy Is a Choice for an ownership group that includes 2024 Kentucky Derby winners Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway (4 G Racing). “The older he gets, the better he gets. He knows what his job is now. He’s matured and he’s such a good horse to be around. He usually lets you know when he’s ready to run.”
Ramon Vazquez retains the mount on Happy Is a Choice, who drew the rail.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who dominated Oaklawn’s older male sprint division last season, is scheduled to start multiple stakes winner Gulfport (3-1). Gulfport exits a neck victory in the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.
Gulfport competed against some of the country’s top 2-year-olds in 2022 before a physical setback limited him to one start in 2023. He’s won 2 of 3 starts this year, including the Bet On Sunshine under apprentice jockey Erik Asmussen, Steve Asmussen’s son.
Erik Asmussen has the return call on Gulfport, who is scheduled to break from post 6.
“Thanks to the connections being so patient,” the younger Asmussen said. “My dad’s done a fantastic job building him up to the stakes sprint schedule here. It’s a really good field. There’s seven horses in it and there’s not another horse I would rather be on.”
Happy Is a Choice was entered in the Bet On Sunshine, but he was scratched moments before the race because of a minor knee abrasion sustained walking to the paddock, Ortiz said.
Durante, Gulfstream Way, Disco Ball, Run Classic and Of a Revolution are also entered in the Ring the Bell.
