by Jeff Lowe

Happy Ticket, the Louisiana-bred mare who began her career with nine consecutive wins and peaked with a Grade 1 victory at Saratoga Race Course, died May 3, nine days after delivering her second foal.

Owner-breeder Stewart Madison said the eight-year-old Anet mare out of Love and Happiness, by Septieme Ciel, was found dead at Glencrest Farm in Lexington. An autopsy determined that Happy Ticket developed complications that ultimately traced back to foaling, Madison said.

“It was 1 in 10,000, something like that,” Madison said. “She was fine at 9 on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, she was dead. It’s like lightning.”

Happy Ticket delivered a healthy Empire Maker filly on April 24. Her other foal is a yearling Distorted Humor colt.

The all-time leading Louisiana-bred with a career bankroll of $1,688,838, Happy Ticket registered ten stakes wins and finished second in six graded events, including the 2006 Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Churchill Downs. She won 12 of 20 career starts for trainer Andrew Leggio Jr.

Happy Ticket’s biggest triumph came in her first Grade 1 appearance, a 5 1/2-length win in the 2005 Ballerina Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. She also prevailed in the 2006 Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2) by a head over Oonagh Maccool (Ire).

“I don’t have any plans for the colt or the filly at this point,” Madison said. “I’ve just got to let this go by. It’s like she was one of my kids, and she was my kid because I don’t have children.

“She was a once-in-a-lifetime horse. Happy Ticket never disappointed. She had what you can’t breed into them. She had the heart. She loved to run. That’s what Andy always said about her, that ‘She likes to do what she does.’ Hopefully she passed that along.”

Happy Ticket was the first and only Grade 1 winner in Leggio’s 30-year career

“She gave us a lot of thrills,” Leggio said. “It was so much fun.”

Jeff Lowe is a THOROUGHBRED TIMES staff writer