The primary owners of So Happy told USA TODAY Sports they had a chance to cash in before the Kentucky Derby.
Their choice looked like a potentially expensive one after the horse went off as the co-favorite at 5-1 before finishing ninth at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky Saturday May 2.
After So Happy won the Grade I Santa Anita Derby April 4, clinching a spot in the Kentucky Derby, potential buyers reached out, according to Hans Maron, who along with his wife Ana are the primary owners of So Happy. Norman Stables LLC also owns a stake in the horse.
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Hans Maron indicated the top bid was for millions of dollars.
Asked if the offer was for seven figures, he responded, "Multiple seven figures."
But the Marons, who paid $150,000 for the horse, turned down the offer, according to Hans Maron.
"I don't want to give the amount because it's really not important," he said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports about a week and a half before the race. "And many people told us we should (accept it). That would be the rational thing to do. And I'm definitely not irrational.
"I just felt under the circumstances and the situation, maybe a different place in time, we would do something different."
On Saturday, So Happy, who trained and raced in California before the Derby, got out to a fast start before fading. It’s unclear how much the horse’s disappointing finish reduced his value.
One reason they decided not to accept the offer, Hans Maron explained, is they didn’t want to disrupt the poignant story. So Happy was the first Kentucky Derby horse for 53-year-old trainer Mark Glatt, whose wife died of heart failure Feb. 12.
Even selling a stake to a third owner seemed like a bad idea, according to Hans Maron, who said, "if we brought another person in (with) Mark's situation and muddied the waters, it just wouldn't be good."
Hans Maron is the co-founder of Fairlife, a lactose-free milk, and he sold his stake to Coca Cola.
Of the potential sale of So Happy, he said, "We just decided it wasn't something that we absolutely needed to do, and it's not going to change our lifestyle any personally."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: So Happy's owners say they passed up millions before Kentucky Derby
