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Tearful Mark Glatt wins Santa Anita Derby with So Happy

April 5, 2026

ARCADIA — The first major stakes victory of Mark Glatt’s horse-racing life was always going to stir emotion, no matter when it eventually happened. Winning the Santa Anita Derby and a place in the Kentucky Derby at this moment, though, brought feelings that even an articulate man like Glatt found hard to express. The win, with the colt named So Happy and jockey Mike Smith, came just weeks after the death of Glatt’s wife Dena.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Glatt said, fighting back tears. “It’s the biggest win of my life. I know my wife had a big part in this.”

Instead of watching a big race with Dena, as he was used to doing for 25 years, Glatt, 53, watched the Santa Anita Derby with his son, daughter and other family members, as well as So Happy’s owners from Norman Stables LLC and the Saints or Sinners stable.

Then he negotiated a path of hugs and handshakes between the box seats and the winner’s circle, his face showing a battle between elation and sadness.

“It’s not the same,” Glatt said after the winners’ ceremony was over. “I mean, I’m enjoying it. It’s a heck of an accomplishment. But I can’t help wishing she was here.”

So Happy, who went off at 7-1 and paid $16.60, was the fourth choice among seven horses by the betting crowd, which had understandable doubts about his ability to get 1-1/8 miles at the Grade I level.

With Smith providing perfect stalking position behind 6-5 favorite Potente and jockey Juan Hernandez and 8-1 Robusta and Emisael Jaramillo, So Happy got the lead at the top of the stretch and drew away from Potente in the final furlong to win by 2-3/4 lengths in front of a crowd announced at 37,562.

The time of the even-paced race, 1:49.01, made this faster than Journalism’s win in last year’s Santa Anita Derby and faster than most recent runnings of the 89-year-old race.

Third was 47-1 Vitruvian Man, ahead of 7-2 Intrepido, 65-1 Start the Ride, 3-1 Cherokee Nation and Robusta. Cherokee Nation, a brilliant maiden-level winner last time out, reverted to his slow-starting ways and was never in contention.

The Kentucky Derby qualifying points earned by So Happy and Bob Baffert-trained Potente put both solidly in the 20-horse field for the May 2 race at Churchill Downs.

Intrepido, who had a wide trip and lost third by a half-length, ended up 24th on the Derby points list, meaning he’d need four horses to be withdrawn to make the race. That assumes trainer Jeff Mullins thinks the horse should go.

There’s no doubt about So Happy’s qualifications for Louisville.

Glatt, a Washington state native who is one of California’s leading trainers, said he was always confident in his horse. So Happy’s sire is Runhappy, a champion sprinter not known for producing distance horses, but dam So Cunning is a daughter of Blame, who beat Zenyatta in the 1-1/4-mile Breeders’ Cup Classic. So Happy’s biggest previous win came in the 7-furlong San Vicente Stakes, and he tired to third in the 1-1/16-mile San Felipe, but that last race followed a layoff.

“We got back in a month’s time (Saturday),” Glatt said. “And, you know, horses improve second time around two turns.”

Smith, a 59-year-old Racing Hall of Famer who won his sixth Santa Anita Derby and will be seeking his third Kentucky Derby, said So Happy seemed to benefit from more recent activity.

“Before the last race, he missed two (workouts),” Smith said. “In the post parade, he looked heavy. Today he looked fitter.”

But Smith thought another factor might have been at work. Since Dena Glatt, 57, died Feb. 12, from cardiac arrest after two weeks in a hospital in Arcadia, Smith knew he’d be riding for trainer and a family in grief.

“I called on her at the eighth pole,” Smith said. “I said, ‘Pick me up, Dena. Get me home.’“

Glatt wished Dena had been there Saturday. For many people involved, she was.

Orange County Register

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Tearful Mark Glatt wins Santa Anita Derby with So Happy

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