Sidney's Candy sold to WinStar, headed to Pletcher

Barbara D. Livingston

Sidney's Candy is led off a van at Belmont Park on Tuesday by Todd Pletcher assistant Jonathan Thomas.

The Craig Family Trust has sold Sidney’s Candy, one of the West Coast's top male handicap horses, to a WinStar Farm partnership, and the 4-year-old Candy Ride colt was shipped to the East Coast to join Todd Pletcher’s barn.

WinStar announced the private purchase for an undisclosed price Tuesday afternoon, saying Sidney’s Candy will race in the Versailles, Ky., farm’s colors and will stand there when he retires.

The Jenny Craig homebred has been in training with John Sadler, with whom he has won 6 of 13 starts, including last year’s Santa Anita Derby, in which he defeated eventual 3-year-old champion Lookin at Lucky. He also won the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes, San Felipe Stakes, and La Jolla Handicap, and the Grade 3 Sir Beaufort Stakes. He placed in three other graded races and set a pair of track records at Del Mar, one over 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt in 1:02.71 and one over 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:39.52.

Versatility was part of his appeal, WinStar president Elliott Walden said in announcing the purchase.

In his most recent start, on May 28, Sidney’s Candy finished a nose behind Ryehill Dreamer in the Grade 2 Amercian Handicap on Hollywood’s turf. That brought his earnings to $953,560.

“Not many horses of this generation have his versatility or speed,” Walden said of the colt’s attributes. “He has been first or second in 52 out of 60 points of call so far in his racing career, which shows you he is not only fast but can carry it around two turns. He’s truly an impressive horse, and we feel fortunate to have him.”

Craig and her late husband Sidney bred Sidney’s Candy from the Storm Cat mare Fair Exchange, who never won but is a daughter of multiple Grade 1 winner and millionaire Exchange, a Kinghaven Farms-bred mare by Explodent.