Candy Man Rocket can in Gold Fever Stakes. But will he?

ELMONT, N.Y. – Candy Man Rocket and Roderick look to bounce back from disappointing efforts when they head a field of six 3-year-olds entered to run in Sunday’s $100,000 Gold Fever Stakes going six furlongs at Belmont Park.

Candy Man Rocket, a son of Candy Ride, won his maiden going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 9. He came out of that to win the Sam F. Davis going 1 1/16 miles at Tampa Bay Downs to get on the Triple Crown trail.

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An 11th-place finish in a 12-horse Tampa Bay Derby and a last-place finish in a nine-horse Wood Memorial effectively ended Candy Man Rocket’s bid to make the Kentucky Derby.

“He was pretty impressive at six when he broke his maiden,” trainer Bill Mott said. “We stepped him right up and he [won routing] once. Maybe he doesn’t want that trip every time.”

Candy Man Rocket has a series of decent works since the Wood and drew the outside post. He will be ridden by Junior Alvarado.

Roderick, a son of Into Mischief, went 2 for 5 at age 2. His trainer, Wesley Ward, on Thursday won his 2,000th career race. In his 3-year-old debut, Roderick finished last of six as the 4-5 favorite under Irad Ortiz Jr. in the Hutcheson Stakes, run over a sloppy Gulfstream Park main track.

“I thought going into the race that the slop would be ideal because he’s got speed,” Ward said. “He’s a little better when you take a hold of him and let him come with a run. In the slop at Gulfstream, Irad had him right there on the pace, which is where you want to be on a track like that. When the running started, he went the other way.”

Roderick won his career debut at Belmont last June by 8 1/4 lengths. His other win came in an open-conditioned allowance at Churchill by 3 3/4 lengths last Nov. 29. He earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

“You just don’t know what to expect of this guy,” Ward said. “If he runs like I’ve seen him run in the past and I’ve seen in his works, he’s the winner. If he doesn’t, we’ll see what happens.”

Joel Rosario has the call from post 3.

The Wolfman and Doubleo-seven each ships up from Maryland off an allowance win. The Wolfman, trained by Phil Schoenthal, beat Doubleoseven in a first-level allowance on Feb. 28 but hasn’t run since. Doubleoseven, trained by Jeremiah O’Dwyer, came back to win an allowance on March 20.

Beren will try to rebound from a fourth-place finish after stumbling at the start in the Grade 3 Bay Shore at Aqueduct. With a clean break, Beren, trained by Butch Reid, could be the speed from the rail under Manny Franco.

American Gentleman, claimed for $40,000 by trainer Natalia Lynch out of a win two back, is another who figures to be part of the pace.