HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Two years ago, Candy Man Rocket came off a nine-month layoff to win a high-level optional-claiming and allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths during the Gulfstream Park Championship meet. Last winter, Candy Man Rocket returned from just shy of a one-year hiatus to capture a similarly conditioned allowance by 2 1/4 lengths as a stepping-stone to his popular victory five weeks later in the six-furlong Gulfstream Park Sprint. On Saturday, Candy Man Rocket will make yet another comeback, this time off a relatively short 6 1/2-month freshening, when returning to his favorite track in an attempt to defend his title against nine rivals in the $125,000 Gulfstream Sprint. Candy Man Rocket, now 6, seems to be improving with age and is coming off his best year yet in 2023, an abbreviated campaign during which he won 3 of 5 starts that in addition to his two local wins included a 1 1/2-length triumph in Belmont Park’s Grade 3 Runhappy Stakes. The season ended prematurely after his next outing, a third-place finish in Belmont’s Grade 2 John Nerud Stakes on July 1. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports “He’s coming off another long layoff, but he always seems to run well fresh off of these type of layoffs and he seems to be doing well, so I hope he can do it again,” trainer Bill Mott said. “And he obviously likes Gulfstream, he’s 4 for 4 over that track. “The one thing I worry about is that he can kind of lose his composure a little bit in the paddock and post parade. He can get a little wound up, a little overly anxious sometimes on race days.” Candy Man Rocket will be without his regular rider, Junior Alvarado, for the first time since the pair teamed up to capture the Grade 3 Sam Davis at Tampa Bay Downs three years earlier. Jose Ortiz will replace Alvarado, who is scheduled to ride Senor Buscador earlier Saturday in the Saudi Cup. Candy Man Rocket’s competition will include fellow graded stakes winners Dean Delivers, Ironstone, and Scaramouche along with the graded stakes-placed trio of Run Classic, Long Range Toddy, and Todo Fino. The locally based pair of Loco Abarrio and Hurricane Jay, who have both been working forwardly for the event, and speedy stakes winner Swirvin complete the lineup. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Dean Delivers will be making his third start since finishing third in the Grade 1 Alfred Vanderbilt Handicap last summer at Saratoga and appears to be rounding back to top form after finishing second, caught in the final jump by Shaq Diesel, after making all the pace in a restricted Florida-bred stakes on Dec. 9 at Tampa Bay Downs. That race closed out an outstanding 2023 campaign during which he earned more than $257,000 and proved a popular winner of the Grade 3 Smile Sprint. Ironstone has been idle since winning a high-priced optional-claiming/allowance race over the synthetic track on Dec. 10 at Woodbine. His most important victory came over the same surface a year earlier, a 2 3/4-length tally going nine furlongs in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby. Scaramouche has lost eight consecutive starts since upsetting the Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx Racing in September 2022. One of those losses was a dull seventh-place finish behind Candy Man Rocket in this race last year. Long Range Toddy has been idle since finishing fourth behind Sibelius after contesting a rapid pace in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector on Dec. 23, snapping a modest two-race winning streak for the 8-year-old veteran whose most noteworthy effort is a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Phoenix during the fall of 2022. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.