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'Get Happy Mister' Wins $100K San Simeon Stakes At Santa Anita

   ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Get Happy Mister won the $100,000 San Simeon Stakes by a length after an eight-month layoff Sunday on closing day of Santa Anita's winter meet.

Ridden by Tyler Baze, Get Happy Mister ran 6 1/2 furlongs on the downhill turf course in 1:13.11 and paid $27.20, $10 and $4.60 at 12-1 odds.

Holy Lute returned $4 and $3.20, while Home Run Kitten was another length back third and paid $2.60 to show.

Trainer Mark Tsagalakis earned his first stakes win in the Grade 3 race with a horse owned by his mother-in-law. The 52-year-old trainer said he's been in the business about 25 years.

"It was time to rock and roll. The race came up, he was ready to go and we were eligible for it," Tsagalakis said. "It was like `Let's give it a try.' We had him out on the turf the other day, he seemed to like it and he did."

Get Happy Mister won his sixth straight race, with the first five wins coming at Arapahoe Park in Colorado. The victory, worth $60,000, increased his career earnings to $384,928, with 11 wins in 14 starts.

Rafael Bejarano won the jockeys' title with 76 wins, 18 ahead of runner-up Baze. It was Bejarano's sixth winter meet title.

Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer edged Peter Miller for the trainers' title, 34 wins to 33.

Track officials said there was a 3 percent increase in overall pari-mutuel wagering and a 4 percent rise in on-track attendance for the 68-day meet.

Santa Anita's 39-day spring meet opens Friday and runs through June 28.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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