By Bill Finley
Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}) had all the momentum as the field turned into the stretch for Sunday's fifth at Saratoga, a six-furlong maiden for 2-year-old fillies. The only question was whether or not she could get up in time after racing seven wide on the turn. It took some doing, but she got the job done, winning a race despite showing signs that she's still on the immature side.
Ridden by Luis Saez, Candied was in mid-pack early as Ella Elizabeth (Take Charge Indy) set the pace. On the far turn, Irad Ortiz Jr. darted to the rail aboard Chad Brown first-time-starter Catherine Wheel (Into Mischief). It appeared to be the winning move as the Into Mischief filly opened up by 1 1/2 lengths at the eighth pole. Meanwhile, with a wall of horses in front of him, Saez took the widest route, but it didn't matter as his filly won by three-quarters of a length.
“She had to lose some ground, but she had her face clean and picked up some momentum. I thought it was a quality effort,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Pletcher continued: “We expected her to be a little closer. She had been pretty quick getting away from the gate. She's also been a little bit green. We actually put some blinkers on her a few times to test them out. We felt like she was still learning. She was one of those who was still looking around with the blinkers. So we decided to take them off.”
Pletcher also noted that Candied was having problems changing leads in the stretch.
“That's something we've been working on a lot with her, her lead changes,” the trainer said. “She's been kind of slow to get totally professional about that. I think there is big room for improvement for her.”
Candied is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and was a $165,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale. The breeder is Buck Pond Farm Inc.
She paid $12.60 and ran the six furlongs in 1:10.89.
The priciest filly in the race was Munny Rockette (Munnings). She sold for $1 million at the OBS March Sale. Trained by Bill Mott, she finished third, beaten 4 1/4 lengths.
CANDIED, a 2YO by @LanesEndFarms stallion Candy Ride breaks her maiden in Race 5 with @luissaezpty aboard for trainer @PletcherRacing! #Saratoga pic.twitter.com/hYIQYQ9N17
— NYRA (🗽) (@TheNYRA) August 20, 2023
5th-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 8-20, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.89, ft, 3/4 length.
CANDIED (f, 2, Candy Ride {Arg}–Toni Tools {SW, $193,339}, by Roaring Fever), a 5-1 shot, took her time getting into stride and was in chase mode early from several paths off the rail. She began to inch up into contention into the turn and jockey Luis Saez steered her outside to position her widest of the bunch coming into the lane. With plenty of late run despite drifting towards the rail, Candied got up alongside leader Catherine Wheel (Into Mischief) with a sixteenth to run and turned that rival away to prevail on the wire by three-quarters of a length with favorite Munny Rockette (Munnings) back in third. Toni Tools is responsible for a Solomini colt this year and was bred back to Mind Control. Sales History: $165,000 Ylg '22 FTKJUL. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,750. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners; B-Buck Pond Farm, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.
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