Jose Sarinana has checked off a number of firsts with Happy Saver. The longtime assistant manager at Hagyard Farm, Sarinana foaled the future Grade I winner and seven years later was the breeder of the stallion's first foal. That foal, a filly out of Sarinana's only broodmare Planeta (Giant's Causeway), will become the stallion's first yearling to sell at auction when she goes through the ring as hip 4 in the early minutes of the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale next Tuesday. She is the lone horse in the Sarinana Racing consignment.
Bred and campaigned by Wertheimer et Frere and trained by Todd Pletcher, Happy Saver opened his career with five straight wins, a streak which included a victory in the 2020 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup. He hit the board in 11 of 13 starts with five wins and earnings of $1,258,100. In addition to his win in the Gold Cup, he was second in that race, as well as the GI Clark Stakes in 2021, and was runner-up in the 2022 editions of the GI Metropolitan Handicap and GI Whitney Stakes before retiring to stud at Airdrie in 2023.
The team at Hagyard, the Wertheimer's Kentucky nursery where Happy Saver was born, knew the handsome chestnut was talented right from the start, according to Sarinana.
“We always number our horses from top to bottom,” Sarinana said. “And Happy Saver was always in the top three. He was good looking as a baby, as a weanling and a yearling. When we shipped him out to be trained, he looked even better. When he made it as a racehorse, I wasn't surprised. I knew he would.”
Like Happy Saver, Planeta was bred by the Wertheimers.
“Planeta got hurt as a baby, so she wasn't going to be a racehorse, but we nursed her to be a broodmare,” Sarinana said. “I was at the point where I wanted to do a little breeding and a little bit of racing and I asked if I could buy her. I remember one of the Wertheimer advisors asked me, 'Do you like to pay bills.' I said, 'Well, I do pay my bills.' He said, 'Well there you go. She is yours.' And they gave her to me. I got her as a yearling. She never left the farm. She stayed at the farm where she was born and where I've been working for 19 years.”
Now 14, the mare, who is a half-sister to graded winner Meteore (Pulpit) and from the family of Grade I winners A Phenomenon and Seattle Meteor, is Sarinana's lone broodmare.
“Just the one. It's just her and me,” he said with a chuckle.
Happy Saver | Sarah Andrew
Dac (Distorted Humor) carried the Sarinana Racing colors to victory in the 2015 and 2016 Prairie Bayou Stakes and that led to a brief doubling of the operation's broodmare band.
“Dac brought some income to me and I decided to get another broodmare,” Sarinana said. “Unfortunately, I lost her foaling. I decided to just stick with Planeta.”
Planeta is the dam of Mr. Sarinana (Mr. Speaker), who won on the flat and over jumps, and Kbcya Later (Broken Vow), a 5-year-old with earnings to date over $140,000.
When he bred Planeta to Happy Saver, Sarinana was hoping to reproduce some of the same qualities he saw from that horse at a young age.
“Good temper, a pretty easy-going horse, you don't even know he's there,” he recalled of Happy Saver. “One of those horses who showed his class all the way around. I was hoping that he would put some of his traits into the foal and he did. The filly looks a lot like he did when he was a yearling. I hope everybody will agree with me and like her.”
Of breeding the stallion's first foal, Sarinana added, “It was very special because I've known Happy Saver since he was born–I foaled him. So to have his first foal, it was very exciting. Especially seeing how beautiful she was.”
Sarinana may soon need a replacement for his lone broodmare.
“I am looking for my next Planeta,” Sarinana admitted. “She lost a pregnancy last year and this year, she couldn't get in foal. So she may be telling me it's time to retire her. I don't know. I may try to breed her again next year. Maybe to Happy Saver.”
While he may end up with two broodmares at some point, Sarinana doesn't expect his breeding operation to expand beyond that.
“It's easy to just manage one or two mares,” he said. “Since I have my work, I work for the farm and it's easy for me to have one or two mares. As a hobby, I would say, more than a business. Maybe expecting you can make it one day.”
Hip 4 (walking video) will be the only horse in Sarinana's consignment and he acknowledged it could be hard work getting people to believe in your product.
“People who know me, know Hagyard Farm has bred and raced a lot of winners, but it's still hard to get people to believe in what you present,” Sarinana said. “It's like going to a mall and going to a mom and pop shop.”
The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale will be held Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m. and will be followed immediately by the company's July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale.
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