Happy Times in Gamely

One start into her 2001 campaign and Happyanunoit has already matched her victory total from last year.

Making her first appearance since finishing third in the Matriarch last Nov. 26, the 6-year-old New Zealand-bred mare edged past favored Tranquility Lake in the final strides to win the $221,350 Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap by a head Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Giving jockey Brice Blanc only his third win at the meet--and first on a horse not named Vaquero--Happyanunoit was never far off the pace set by stablemate High Walden. The winner angled to the outside around the turn, then collared Tranquility Lake--the even-money choice who had opened up a length lead with an eighth of a mile to run--to win in 1:47 1/5 for the 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Owned by John Amerman and trained by Bobby Frankel, the 5-1 third choice in the field of seven fillies and mares earned her fourth win in seven tries on the Hollywood Park turf course. She has won nine of 20 overall and this was her third Grade I victory in this country, all in tandem with Blanc.

“Looking at her physically, I thought she was doing really well,” said Frankel after his record fifth win in the Gamely. “She is the soundest she has been in a year and a half. Her feet are really good and Brice was very happy with her the last two times he breezed her.

“Like I tell people, if she gallops strong in the morning, then she’s good and she has been galloping strong. It was probably my fault we messed her up a little bit last year. I probably messed with her feet too much trying to get her right and it didn’t work out. Now she’s right and let’s hope we can keep her right.”

Blanc was happy to be back on Happyanunoit. He had lost the mount after finishing second as the favorite in the Beverly D. last summer at Arlington Park. She then lost her final three starts of the year under two different riders.

“This was very exciting, especially since my business has been very, very slow the past month,” he said. “It’s hard to keep your head up when you don’t have that many opportunities, and when you do, the horses don’t respond.

“It was great to ride her again because she is amazing. She’s just the best racehorse I’ve ever been on.”

Tranquility Lake, the 124-pound highweight, finished a half-length in front of 10-1 shot Beautiful Noise.

A trip to California could be in Hero’s Tribute’s future after his impressive victory over heavily-favored E Dubai and five others in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

Relishing a rock-hard sloppy track, the 3-year-old son of Sea Hero, racing in blinkers for the first time, took the lead immediately, battled with E Dubai through torrid fractions (22 2/5, 44 4.5 and 1:08 2/5 for six furlongs), then asserted his superiority late.

Trained by John Oxley for owner John Ward and ridden by Jorge Chavez, the same connections that won the Kentucky Derby with Monarchos, Hero’s Tribute had nearly four lengths on the 7-10 favorite at the wire and completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 2/5.

This was the fourth win in eight tries for Hero’s Tribute, the 5-1 third choice in the Grade II race, and Ward indicated the colt will ship to Hollywood Park for a possible encounter with Congaree and Millennium Wind in the $500,000 Swaps Stakes on July 15 after he runs once more in the East.

Expected Program ($7.20) defeated favored 17-10 favorite Fonz’s by a neck to win the $78,750 Willard Proctor Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Park. Ridden by Tyler Baze for owners Carolyn Chapman and Theresa McArthur and trainer Jim Chapman, the 2-year-old Valid Expectations colt completed the five furlongs in a quick 56 4/5. . . . Nasty Storm, a 5-1 shot, outfinished 1-2 favorite Love At Noon, who is trained by Bob Baffert, by a neck to win the $109,700 Dogwood Stakes at Keeneland. A 3-year-old daughter of Gulch owned by a partnership that includes former Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum and trainer Dallas Stewart, Nasty Storm paid $13.80 and completed the 1 1/16 miles under Lonnie Meche in 1:43 2/5. . . . Jockey Pat Day missed in the Dogwood with Love At Noon, but won four other races on the card and now has 7,996 victories. He’s trying to become the third rider in history--along with Laffit Pincay Jr. and Bill Shoemaker--to win 8,000.