Fincher sending Zia Oaks winner Flying Connection to La Brea Stakes

Flying Connection, who won the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks on Tuesday, will likely make her next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 La Brea at Santa Anita, trainer Todd Fincher said Thursday. The seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies is Dec. 26.

“That’s what we’re looking at,” Fincher said.

Flying Connection last raced in Southern California in September when she finished second in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines at Del Mar. She was winning her second straight race in the Zia Park Oaks, after taking the Charles Taylor Derby over male rivals at the Downs at Albuquerque. Flying Connection won the Zia Park Oaks by five lengths, tracking the pace and going on to win the 1 1/16-mile race in a sharp 1:42.29. She earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

“She had a perfect trip, a perfect run,” Fincher said. “Everything was nice.

“She’s always been a big-hearted filly that tries really, really hard every time. She was a little too aggressive last year and early this year, but she’s learned how to relax and it makes her a lot better horse.”

Earlier this year, Flying Connection won the $300,000 Sunland Park Oaks before going on to set the pace in the Kentucky Oaks and then finishing sixth of 14.

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Flying Connection will be cutting back to one turn for the La Brea. For her win in the Zia Oaks, she went over $500,000 in career earnings and improved her record to 6 for 12. She is a daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.

Fincher eyeing another Oaks

Fincher has at least two fillies set to jump on the trail to the 2024 Sunland Park Oaks after the promising 2-year-olds Candy Aisle and Aye Candy won impressively Tuesday at Zia Park.

Candy Aisle won the second stakes race of her young career in the $100,000 Zia Park Princess. The score came one start after she won her maiden over male rivals in the Manzano at the Downs at Albuquerque.

“I really like her,” Fincher said of the daughter of Gun Runner.

Fincher’s other winner was Aye Candy, who won her debut in a maiden special weight over 5 1/2 furlongs. She is a half-sister to Senor Buscador, a Grade 2 winner Fincher was to have sent out Saturday in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.

Aye Candy and Candy Aisle will be considered for the $65,000 Borderplex for 3-year-old fillies on Jan. 19 at Sunland. The race is a stepping-stone to the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks at a mile, which will be held five weeks earlier this year, on Feb. 18, according to a website posting by Sunland. The other 3-year-old offering at the meet is the $125,000 Island Fashion at 1 1/16 miles on April 7.

The Sunland Oaks will again share a card with the Grade 3, $400,000 Sunland Derby, according to the stakes schedule. The Sunland Derby has been shortened in distance from 1 1/8 miles to 1 1/16 miles and also is scheduled five weeks earlier.

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