With the hustle and bustle of Kentucky Derby (G1) week on the backstretch at full throttle, California-based trainer Mark Glatt stood outside of Barn 42 at Churchill Downs, watching his Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner So Happy being readied for his morning routine.
Those moments before So Happy hit the track and galloped represented a lifetime of dreams and the utmost heartache for the 53-year-old trainer.
Less than three months earlier, Glatt’s wife Dena – his partner of 25 years, mother of their three children, and constant companion – died suddenly of heart failure at age 57.
Horses as a Life Centerpiece
Mark and Dena Glatt had built their life around the horses. They met during the trainer’s early days at Emerald Downs in Washington, where she was a waitress, and he had box seats. During the first (and often toughest) days when young trainers spent long hours away from home, struggling to prove themselves while living paycheck to paycheck, Dena stood by him through it all.
“She was always with me at the races, right by my side and supported me,” said Glatt, who began training in 1994. “[Without her], it’s just a very big void in the day.”
So Happy, a son of Runhappy, was purchased for $150,000 by Hans and Ana Maron of Saints or Sinners and Robbie Norman’s Norman Stables at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales last year. Since then, he has compiled a record of three wins and one third from four starts and earned $480,000, including victories in the Santa Anita Derby and the San Vicente Stakes (G2).
Ana Maron remembers her husband coming home and telling her he had found a trainer.
“He goes, ‘Mark Glatt,’” Ana Maron said. “My reaction was, ‘Him? The guy who never smiles? Him?’
The colt and his name became more meaningful after Dena’s passing, as he provided a focus for all his people amid the grief.
Fighting back tears in the winner’s circle after the Santa Anita Derby, Glatt said, “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s the biggest win of my life. I know my wife had a big part in this.”
Solid belief in the colt by his connections
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who at 60 is the Kentucky Derby’s most experienced rider with 28 previous mounts, will be back aboard the strapping bay colt on Saturday and is keenly aware of how meaningful a win – his third – would be.
“I know (Dena) is watching over us; she’s our angel, she’s going to watch over us all, and she’s watching over Mark as well,” Smith said.
Dena’s expectations
Soldiering on, Glatt says he’s trying to stay in the moment, something he knows his late wife would expect. Who wouldn’t like to win the Derby with his very first starter?
“I have found that staying as busy as you can [helps], and I’ve got plenty to keep me busy, but at the same time, it can get a bit overwhelming,” he said, crediting his team with holding things together during those lonely and hard moments. “Maybe Dena’s up there helping me with horses to get to the wire a little bit. Dena did a lot of things.
“That all falls upon me now.”
So Happy’s story goes beyond numbers
In the post parade, with the Twin Spires as a backdrop and the crowd singing along to “My Old Kentucky Home,” So Happy will carry the hopes of many, especially a trainer running not only for the roses for the first time, but in memory of the woman who had always been by his side.
“There’s a lot of hope attached to him,” Glatt said of So Happy, “a lot of emotion attached to him… as we try to move forward with our lives, my family and I.”
In the world of thoroughbred racing, where triumph and tragedy often run side by side, So Happy’s story reminds everyone that sometimes the greatest victories are the ones that help heal a broken heart.
Glatt wears a bracelet containing some of Dena’s ashes wherever he goes.
“That way I always have her with me,” he said.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
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