Rated perfectly from post 4 by jockey Ken Tohill, Happy Me scored a wire-to-wire, 3 ¾-length victory in Friday’s $75,000 Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap (R) at SunRay Park.

Happy Me covered 6 ½ furlongs in 1:17.44 after setting fractional splits of :23.05 and :46.61. Fred Danley saddled the homebred 4-year-old filly by Lesters Boy for his wife, owner Rita Danley of Anthony, New Mexico.

Happy Me is one of three stakes winners from 35 starters sired by Lesters Boy, a 14-year-old son of the Relaunch stallion Cee’s Tizzy who won two stakes in California from 2001-02. A full brother to Theresa’s Tizzy, whose six career stakes victories included the 2000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar, Lesters Boy has sired the earners of more than $1.25 million from five crops. The California-bred stallion stands for a $3,000 fee at Miguel Gallegos’ Gallegos del Norte Farm in Albuquerque.

Happy Me’s winning dam, the 12-year-old Brave Lad mare I’m A Happy Gal, has foaled four winners from as many starters, including I Am Lesters Gal, a filly by Lesters Boy who ran third in last year’s $125,855 Rio Grande Senorita Futurity (R) at Ruidoso Downs.

Sent to post as the 13-10 favorite, Happy Me returned a $4.60 win mutuel and teamed with runner-up Mylilmemo for a ($2) exacta return of $27.40 and ($2) quinella payoff of $17.20. Negotiablafections, the 9-2 second choice, ran third, six lengths behind Happy Me, to complete a ($2) trifecta of $128.40.

Happy Me has won six of eight starts, and the $45,000 winner’s share of the Foutz Handicap purse pushed her earnings to $260,160. The filly’s stakes record includes a wire-to-wire, head victory in the 5 ½-furlong, $125,000 La Coneja Handicap (R) at Sunland Park on March 28, and a 2 ¾-length win in last year’s 6-furlong, $125,000 New Mexico Racing Commission Handicap (R) at Sunland.

Mylilmemo banked $15,000 to boost her bankroll to $165,101 for owners Bill Guess of Phoenix, and Danna Buechler of Santa Teresa, New Mexico. A 4-year-old bay daughter of Hot War, Mylilmemo won last year’s $75,000 Aztec Oaks Stakes (R) for state-bred fillies at SunRay.

Negotiablafections is a 6-year-old mare by Prince Of Fame, and she earned $7,500 for owner Terry Millenbine of Seagraves, Texas. A career earner of $267,881 from six wins in 13 outs, Negotiablafections won last season’s one-mile, $182,190 New Mexico Cup Peppers Pride Filly and Mare Championship (R) at Zia Park.

The Foutz Handicap was originally scheduled to be run on April 24, but that day’s 10-race program was cancelled due to a jockeys’ strike at SunRay.