Promising chaser Hey Happy showed he could be in for a prosperous winter after bolting away with the opening steeplechase of the season at Te Rapa on Saturday, the Ken & Roger Browne Memorial Steeplechase (3900m).
Prepared by jumps maestro Kevin Myers the eight-year-old son of Rip Van Winkle never put a foot wrong in the hands of rider Dean Parker.
Never far from the lead throughout the 3900m journey, Hey Happy took the race by the scruff of the neck with a powerful leap at the third last fence and he continued to forge clear from there on, eventually easing down to win by more than 19 lengths from Torque Time and topweight Raucous.
Parker was full of smiles after the race as he described the ease of the win.
“He was a really nice ride and I had a lot of confidence going into the race,” Parker said.
“I thought he’d go quite well and I checked behind me to make sure they weren’t too close before giving him a quiet run to the line.
“He jumped super throughout and loved just poking up on the inside. I thought I was going good at the 800m and something had to be going even better to get past me at that stage.”
The victory will thrust Hey Happy to the forefront of discussions surrounding the Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) that has been moved from its traditional mid-May raceday to the Te Rapa meeting to be held on the 15th of June.
A versatile performer Hey Happy has successfully mixed flat racing with an emerging jumping career as he now adds a third jumping success (two over the steeplechase fences) to his four wins on the flat and over $215,000 in prizemoney.
Owned by Myer’s partner Angela Illston, Hey Happy was originally purchased for $24,000 by Ken Harrison out of the Valachi Downs draft during the Select Yearling Sale at Karaka in 2017 and is out of the stakes placed Yamanin Vital mare Our Zara.
