Candidate shows the way in Dania Beach Stakes
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Candidate took advantage of his inside post and a speed-favoring turf course to register a gate-to-wire, 1 3/4-length victory over the even-money Major Dude in Saturday’s $100,000 Dania Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Candidate broke very alertly under jockey Tyler Gaffalione to out-sprint Worthington to the lead into the clubhouse turn, rated kindly while pressed by that rival down the backstretch, readily shook clear when roused approaching the stretch and was never seriously threatened thereafter. Major Dude raced well placed along the inside within easy striking distance of the leader, angled outside to commence his rally after six furlongs, finished willingly, but could not seriously menace the winner while easily second-best.
Worthington, who like Candidate brought a two-race win streak into the Dania Beach, weakened gradually through the stretch but held on to finish third. He was followed by Congruent, Souzak, who did not get the cleanest of trips in his U.S. debut, Cheerful Charlie and Barzini.
Candidate, a son of Exaggerator, is trained by Arnaud Delacour for owner Mark Grief, who purchased the Kentucky-bred in May for $150,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic 2-year-old in training sale. Candidate completed a mile over the firm course in 1:34.71 seconds and paid $17.20.
“He’s got a lot of natural speed, he broke well, got the lead and got into a nice rhythm,” Delacour said after the race. “You never know if you’re good enough to do it, stepping up against those kind of horses, but he answered every step of the way and I really like it. After his first few workouts it was obvious he was working better on the synthetic at Fair Hill, so it made a lot of sense to try him on the turf and I think we made the right call there.”
Ginger Brew
Trainer Todd Pletcher likely had a few more anxious moments just prior to the $100,000 Ginger Brew than during the actual running itself. His 1-2 favorite Cairo Consort got very fractious loading into the gate before ultimately posting a popular half-length decision over longshot Stephanie’s Charm in the turf fixture for 3-year-old fillies, which shared top billing on the card with the Dania Beach.
Despite her pre-race antics, Cairo Consort ran a very professional race while making her first start since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Fillies and first since being purchased privately and transferred to Pletcher’s barn shortly after the race.
With Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, Cairo Consort bobbled momentarily after the break before recovering to race well placed, about four lengths off the pace of longshot Showgirl Lynne B. Cairo Consort advanced four wide into the stretch, finally sticking her head in front inside the sixteenth before holding safe a late bid from Stephanie’s Charm. The latter was last as the field swung into the stretch, tipped well outside to commence her bid and finished best of all out near the center of the course.
Navy Goat rallied belatedly to finish third, followed by a tiring Erna, troubled Isabel Alexandra, Showgirl Lynne B. and Lady Azteca. Bel Pensiero was pulled up down the backstretch but walked off under her own power.
Cairo Consort returned $3.00. Her final time for the mile was 1:35.80
“You hate to see one get so fractious behind the gate like that,” Pletcher said. “I could tell when she came to the paddock she was on her toes a little bit. We did some work with her at the gate in the mornings and we’ve seen a hint of that. But not that. We’ll have to work on that a little more. Once she got in the gate she broke well and kind of got in the position we had talked about. Irad said he thought he had a lot of horse, that she kind of idled a little bit once making the lead, but when the other horses came to her, she had more."
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