Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Danzing Candy

Danzing Candy
By Twirling Candy-Talkin and Singing, Songandaprayer

There’s a little bit of everything in San Felipe Stakes winner Danzing Candy’s pedigree – turf and dirt, sprinters and stayers. The colt, by promising young sire Twirling Candy, has emerged as one of the West Coast’s leading Kentucky Derby candidates entering this weekend’s Santa Anita Derby.

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Danzing Candy is the most accomplished runner out of the placed Songandaprayer mare Talkin and Singing, whose two starters are both winners. In all of her top-three finishes, the mare was a pace factor before being overtaken late – much in the mold of her sire, who is best known for setting a blistering pace in the 2001 Kentucky Derby before fading.

The rest of the female family adds some stamina – albeit on turf. Talkin and Singing is a half-sister to Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now, a five-time Grade 1 winner who earned more than $4.3 million.

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Danzing Candy is from the first crop of the versatile Twirling Candy, who finished a distant second to Uncle Mo on last year’s freshman sire list. His runners have trained on well following the turn of the calendar, with two stakes winners this year in addition to Danzing Candy.

Twirling Candy is by Candy Ride, a multisurface sire whose foals have excelled at longer distances, highlighted by champion Shared Belief and millionaire Misremembered, both winners of the Santa Anita Handicap. Candy Ride is now represented by three young sons at stud in Misremembered, Twirling Candy, and Sidney’s Candy, each with a stakes-winning 3-year-old in their first crop. Misremembered is the sire of Louisiana Derby third-place finisher and Kentucky Derby hopeful Dazzling Gem.

– Nicole Russo