Santa Anita handicapping roundup: Week of Oct. 26

Hollendorfer unveils hotshot filly

A maiden race Saturday for California-bred 2-year-old fillies is split in two divisions, races 4 and 7. Those races will have trouble matching the strength of the open race for maiden fillies Oct. 20 which marked the debut of a potential star for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

Taste Like Candy was one of three main contenders racing 5 1/2 furlongs in race 5. First-time starter Midnight Dream, trained by Bob Baffert, was bet to even-money, based on typically fast Baffert works. Abide in Me was second choice at 2-1, based on two good efforts early in summer for Art Sherman.

Meanwhile, Hollendorfer-trained Taste Like Candy was relatively ignored. Listed at 5-2 on the morning line, she floated up to a starting price of 9-2. Most handicappers had it all wrong. Taste Like Candy ran as if she should been odds-on.

“I don’t think they expected her to be a 5 1/2-furlong horse, because she is tall with long legs,” Hollendorfer’s assistant trainer Dan Ward said. “She wasn’t really training like a 5 1/2-furlong horse. Not speed, just a lot of class.”

Taste Like Candy had enough speed to be positioned alone in fourth, before jockey Rafael Bejarano guided her outside. She circled rivals on the turn and powered away to win by more than six lengths in 1:03.45. She earned an 85 Beyer.

Sired by Candy Ride and produced by an A.P. Indy mare, Taste Like Candy should love two turns. Her next start will be seven furlongs on Nov. 9 at Betfair Hollywood Park in the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes. If she runs well there, she will stretch to 1 1/16 miles for the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 7. Stay tuned.

California-bred maidens

Hollendorfer will be represented in both 2-year-old statebred races Saturday. Curvy Kitten, a full sister to stakes winner Curvy Cat, makes her debut in race 4. She drew the inside post, however, and may be up against it facing a fast-working Baffert trainee.

The Baffert-trained Global Hottie, post 8, is an Unusual Heat filly out of a dam who has produced five winners. She will be ridden by Martin Garcia. Baffert and Garcia entered the week having won five races together, tops at the meet.

In race 7, expectations are high for Hollendorfer-trained first-time starter Prayer Be Mine. A daughter of Lucky Pulpit, she will be ridden by Bejarano. Bettors shopping for a price might land on Eoin Harty-trained Euroclydon.

Sired by Singletary and a sibling to debut winner Adios Problemas, Euroclydon breezed in 10 seconds at the preview for the Barretts May 2-year-olds in-training sale. That tied for the fastest work at the sale; she sold for $100,000. Her recent works at Hollywood have been solid, she drew an outside post, and could come out firing under Aaron Gryder.

Autumn Miss price play

Wishing Gate is the class of the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes Saturday, a mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies. Wishing Gate won the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar before she finished second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. Furthermore, Wishing Gate benefits from a highly productive trainer-jockey combination. Tom Proctor and Gary Stevens are 14 for 42 this year on turf, a 33 percent win rate that has produced a $3.33 ROI.

But the price play in the Autumn Miss is stakes-placed Heir Kitty, whose recent seventh-place finish was a whole lot better than it looks on paper.

Blocked behind runners in a turf sprint, she stayed blocked into the lane, stalled in traffic, finally switched outside, and finished with run. Bejarano takes over on the Peter Miller trainee.

Inside information

The inside post has not been the place to be this fall in one-turn races at Santa Anita – just 4 winners from 68 sprints (through Oct. 20).