Santa Anita notes: Candy Boy, Kobe's Back work for Sadler

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer John Sadler was hoping to take the next step on the Kentucky Derby trail Saturday afternoon with Kristo in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes, but early Saturday morning at Santa Anita, he was polishing his other top 3-year-old prospects, Candy Boy and Kobe’s Back, who both worked in advance of scheduled stakes starts next month.

Candy Boy is coming off the best performance of his career, a runner-up effort behind Shared Belief – an Eclipse Award finalist for champion 2-year-old male – in the CashCall Futurity. He worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 with jockey Gary Stevens aboard.

“That was perfect,” Sadler said after Candy Boy’s drill. “I told Gary to go in about 1:01. He went nice and smooth, just galloping along.”

Moments after Candy Boy finished, Kobe’s Back began his drill. He went five furlongs in 59.80 seconds.

“He went a little quicker, but both went well,” Sadler said.

Candy Boy is being aimed at the Grade 2, $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 8. That race also is the next scheduled start for Shared Belief.

Kobe’s Back, who had a terrible trip in the CashCall Futurity in large part because of interference from Candy Boy, will turn back to a sprint and go seven furlongs Feb. 16 in the Grade 2, $200,000 San Vicente Stakes.

The Lewis offers points on the system used by Churchill Downs to determine eligibility to the May 3 Kentucky Derby should more than the maximum of 20 horses enter. The San Vicente, however, offers no points.

Tap It Rich breezes

Tap It Rich, the talented but headstrong colt who bolted in the CashCall Futurity, worked six furlongs in 1:13.40 on Saturday. He came out after the final renovation break, when it was fairly quiet, and worked alone with jockey Martin Garcia.

Trainer Bob Baffert recently said he had “started back from scratch” with Tap It Rich.

“I basically had to rebreak him,” Baffert said. “His head was getting in the way. I had to go back to my Quarter Horse days, get him to drop his head, work with him. I spent a week just getting his mouth right. I had to change his whole mindset.”

Baffert had hoped before the CashCall Futurity that a change in bits might aid Tap It Rich, but because of the debacle in that race, “I’m never going to use that bit on him again,” Baffert said.

Other works of significance here Saturday included No Jet Lag (three furlongs, 35.80 seconds), Silentio (four furlongs, 50.80), Egg Drop (five furlongs, 1:01.20), and Private Zone, who worked five furlongs in 59.80 for trainer Doug O’Neill in preparation for the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 9.

Memorial service for Jimenez

A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday from 3-7 p.m. in the FrontRunner restaurant at the track for Jose “Rob” Jimenez, a popular cameraman who died suddenly from pneumonia this past week at age 44.

Jimenez often worked the camera for the host set for HRTV. His loss has left his fellow camera workers, as well as the HRTV family, crushed.

“He was like a brother to me,” said his close friend Jose Ibarra, the principal videographer for much of HRTV’s award-winning content.

Jimenez was a graduate of Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles. He was a passionate fan of the National Football League’s Oakland Raiders, so Ibarra said all attendees of Tuesday’s service are encouraged to wear silver and black, the Raiders’ colors.

A fundraiser has been set up for a funeral for Jimenez, who was single. Donations are being accepted through the website GiveForward.com.