Bossy Candy, Hernandez find sweet spot in Shady Well Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Favored Bossy Candy graduated in style in Saturday’s $150,000 Shady Well Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine, while giving the leading rider Rafael Hernandez his meet-leading 22nd stakes victory.

Bossy Candy broke a bit slowly from the rail in the six-furlong sprint before advancing to an inside-stalking position behind pacesetter Souper Diva, a two-time stakes winner.

Souper Diva led until inside the eighth pole before Bossy Candy ran her down in the final sixteenth en route to a two-length tally, in a time of 1:11.48.

Mathematical, at 33-1, rallied four-wide to finish another 3 1/4 lengths back in third. Pageant Queen, Zabarta, Souper Sporty, Splash of Bourbon, and Sipping History completed the order of finish in the field of Ontario-sired or Ontario-breds.

:: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now.

Hernandez was also aboard when Bossy Candy was a troubled runner-up when debuting in a six-furlong maiden special Nov. 1.

“The first time, she just missed the break a little bit,” Hernandez recalled. “She had a bit of trouble a couple times and got intimidated. Once she got clear, she ran second and I knew she was going to learn from that. Today, I was totally confident.”

Bossy Candy ($4.30) earned $90,000 for the partnership of Gregory Tramontin and Michael Stevens. The daughter of Candy Ride is trained by Mark Casse, who leads the Woodbine standings and has a meet-leading 12 stakes scores.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.