The jubilant connections after Smile Happy’s victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Lucky Seven Stable is the TOBA January Member of the Month.

The Mackin family’s Lucky Seven Stable is having a fortunate fall. Named for Ginny and Leo Mackin and children Mike, Jeff, Kim, Jay and Craig, they have two talented Kenny McPeek trainees. On Oct. 29, Lucky Seven’s Rattle N Roll won the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland. Just over a week later, their Smile Happy captured the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs; Lucky Seven previously campaigned 2006 Kentucky Jockey Club winner U D Ghetto.

McPeek bought Rattle N Roll for $210,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling sale. Lucky Seven snagged Smile Happy for $185,000 at last fall’s Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. “We had always bought strictly 100% from proven sires,” Mackin said. “Going with Kenny last year, we decided to open that up a bit, as you can tell from…Behave Virginia [bought for $115,000 last Keeneland September] was from Unified, an unproven sire. Rattle N Roll was Connect, unproven sire, and Smile Happy, out of Runhappy. This wasn’t his first crop that we bought; this was his second crop, still an unproven sire.” Mackin explained Lucky Seven had successfully bred to unproven sires before, so they figured they “might be able to have some luck buying to unproven sires.”

“They’re fairly similar,” Mackin stated of both colts, whom he called “both very, very smart, both very level-headed” animals who “can rate very easily.” He added, “They don’t have any issues sitting in a pack and getting dirt in their face and just sitting back and relaxing. Both of them have either gone through traffic and in between horses and gone three or four wide and gotten a nice little kick going down [to] the finish line.” Rattle N Roll will head to Fair Grounds for his three-year-old campaign; Smile Happy will journey to Oaklawn.

“I mean, our goal with both of them is the Kentucky Derby [G1],” Mackin said. “And why should we mess up our own goal by putting them together before then?” To have horses in the race would be quite an achievement. “We had horses that we rode when we were younger,” Mackin recalled, adding, “When you grow up in Louisville, Kentucky, there’s horses and there’s basketball, college basketball, so that’s what’s here.” The move to owning Thoroughbreds began with his dad. “I guess when my dad went out and bought that first horse 30 years ago—[a] racehorse, that is, [a] not riding horse—that’s when it became more of a reality,” Mackin noted, adding that “it’s a lot of fun for the last 30 years.” Mackin himself is the VP of family company Interlock Industries, which produces steel and aluminum.

At the 1999 Keeneland September auction, the Mackins bought future grade 3 winner Crafty Shaw for $130,000 and Philadelphia Blues for $125,000. Philadelphia Blues produced multiple graded-placed Moyers Pond and stakes winner Sister Blues. At the sale, future Gardenia Handicap (G3) victress Minister’s Baby RNA’ed for $195,000; Mackin told Blood-Horse in 2017 they later bought her for $165,000. Minister’s Baby became the granddam of Lucky Seven-breds Math Wizard, who annexed the 2019 Pennsylvania Derby (G1), and Chief Know It All, who took the 2017 British Columbia Derby (G3).

Though Lucky Seven has thrived as a breed-to-race operation, they recently sold their three active broodmares. At Keeneland November, Curls and Bows sold for $330,000. A Curlin half-sister to grade 1 winner Dearest Trickski, she was in foal to Gun Runner. In foal to Frosted, Sister Blues (Pioneerof the Nile-Philadelphia Blues) went under the hammer for $50,000. Runaway Mom, a granddaughter of Minister’s Baby, sold for $21,000.

About a year ago, Mackin recalled, “we started talking about the timing—we’re all getting older—and going to the yearling sale. Whether it’s Keeneland or Fasig-Tipton, and buying yearlings, we know about a year later whether we have something or not. The breeding business takes a few years longer than that—once you decide to breed something—before you know whether you have something or not.”

Retired broodmares—Minister’s Baby, her daughter G Mom (dam of Runaway Mom), and Philadelphia Blues—are boarded at Alex Rankin’s Upson Downs Farm. “Well, we still have two weanlings out at Upson Downs,” Mackin added. “Minister’s Baby’s last colt is by Sky Mesa and Sister Blues has a filly by Lookin at Lucky.”

As the Mackins embark on the Derby trail, Lucky Seven remains a family effort. “Well, we all kind of work together,” Mackin added. “I’m the one that goes to the sales; I handle all the paperwork. But when we’re deciding on what to do and where to go, we all have a say-so. We may not always 100% agree, but generally we can get a consensus. But once the decision’s made to do something, all five of us are on board to do it.”