Candy Overload surges from well back to take Kennedy Road

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Candy Overload notched his first stakes from well back in Sunday’s Grade 2 Kennedy Road at Woodbine in his second try for trainer Mark Casse, who swept the exacta in the six-furlong sprint with longshot Ice Chocolat.

Candy Overload raced about seven lengths off a lively pace set by favored Arzak and the classy turf expert Silent Poet.

Candy Overload began to mount his wide rally around the quarter pole and then collared Ice Chocolat in deep stretch to prevail by three-quarters of a length, in a time of 1:09.17.

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Lucky Score closed from 10th for third and Silent Poet weakened to fourth. Arzak faded to ninth in a field reduced to 10 with the scratch of Rockcrest.

Candy Overload was the third winner on the card for jockey Sahin Civaci, who had never ridden the son of Ontario sire Reload before.

“Today, the races were playing for speed, but I knew we had to come off (the pace),” Civaci said. “That was a little bit challenging. I had a good trip overall. I had the outside and when the horse kicked on down the lane, it was clear and he ran good.”

Candy Overload ($17.40) banked $126,000 of the $203,300 purse for the partnership of Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Leonard Schleifer. They purchased the 4-year-old privately prior to his previous race, a troubled fifth in the Grade 3 Vigil.

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