Golden Tempo wins the 152nd Kentucky Derby and makes history
Shelley Devaux became the first female trainer to win the Run for the Roses when Golden Tempo won the 152nd Kentucky Derby.
So Happy’s main owner told USA TODAY Sports he has a chance to cash in before the Kentucky Derby.
Their selection looked like a potentially expensive one, as the horse was the co-favorite at 5-1 before finishing ninth at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, May 2nd.
Hans Mallon, So Happy’s principal owner with his wife, Anna, said a potential buyer approached him after So Happy won the graded Santa Anita Derby on April 4, earning him a spot in the Kentucky Derby. Norman Stables LLC also owns a stake in the horse.
Hans Mallon suggested the highest bid was in the millions of dollars.
When asked if the offer was seven figures, he replied, “Seven figures and more.”
But Hans Mallon said the Mallons, who had paid $150,000 for the horse, declined the offer.
“I don’t want to say the amount because it doesn’t really matter,” he said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports about a week and a half before the race. “And a lot of people said we should accept it. That would be the rational thing to do. And I’m not unreasonable at all.
“We felt that in this situation and under the circumstances, perhaps over time and in a different location, we would do something different.”
So Happy, who trained and raced in California before the Derby on Saturday, got off to a fast start and faded. It is unclear how much the horse’s disappointing finish reduced its value.
Hans Maron explained that one of the reasons they decided not to accept the offer was because they did not want to interrupt the moving story. So Happy is the first Kentucky Derby horse for trainer Mark Glatt, 53, whose wife died of heart failure on February 12th.
Even selling the shares to a third owner seemed like a bad idea, according to Hans Mallon, who said: “If you muddy the situation by involving another person in Mark’s situation, that’s not a good thing.”
Hans Mallon was a co-founder of Fairlife, a lactose-free milk company, and sold his shares to Coca-Cola.
Regarding the possibility of selling So Happy, he said: “We just decided it wasn’t something we absolutely had to do, and personally I have no intention of changing our lifestyle.”
