Twirling Candy

Those who backed him into 2-5 would have had a few nervous moments late, but Collusion Illusion kicked it in for the final furlong and rolled past pacesetting Ragtime Blues en route to an ultimately convincing victory in the GIII Laz Barrera S. at Santa Anita. Ragtime Blues won the break and dictated terms early, while Collusion Illusion, last of the five in the opening exchanges, tugged Flavien Prat into a share of second after a quarter in :21.90. The front-runner pinched a break without really being asked by Mike...

6th-Santa Anita, $59,088, Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($62,500), 5-17, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:10.03, ft COLLUSION ILLUSION (c, 3, Twirling Candy--Natalie Grace, by First Dude) bested a hard-knocking field of older rivals to assert himself as a sophomore to watch in the right season to get off to a belated start. A debut winner at Del Mar last July, the :10 flat OBSAPR breezer added a 7-1 score in the GII Best Pal S. there three weeks later, but came up empty early when stretching out for the GI American Pharoah S. Sept....

Two-time GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill made the ground-breaking move of sending a string of around a dozen horses to train at Meydan and tackle the three-month Dubai World Cup Carnival this season, and the Southern California-based conditioner got off the mark in the desert on Thursday when Fore Left (Twirling Candy) went gate to wire in the one-mile G3 UAE 2000 Guineas. Fore Left carries the colours of Paul Reddam, who also owned both of O'Neill's Derby winners, I'll Have Another (Flower Alley) and Nyquist (Uncle Mo). Fastest...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--The Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale opened Sunday evening with a session of steady action capped by a son of Constitution who sold for $340,000 to trainer John Terranova. "It was a solid opening session to the New York-Bred sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. "There was lots of interest across the board. We continue to see the strength of the New York-bred market. It was on display again tonight." The two-day auction has a slightly different format this year, with Sunday evening's somewhat abbreviated session of...