Stakes winners Candy Boy, Cool Cowboy headed to Dubai

ARCADIA, Calif. – Candy Boy, the winner of the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes in 2014, and Cool Cowboy, a winner of three stakes, have been sold to race in Dubai, according to a statement released by Dubai racing officials.

The horses are in quarantine in Florida and are expected to arrive in Dubai in late January, said the horses’ Dubai-based trainer, Doug Watson, on Friday.

Watson said Candy Boy is in training at a farm in Florida and is a candidate for the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 28. Candy Boy might start in the $400,000 Round 3 of the Maktoum Challenge at Meydan Racecourse on March 7 as a prep race, he said.

Candy Boy and Cool Cowboy were two of 228 horses approved to race at Meydan in Dubai during the track’s racing carnival. Watson said the new ownership of Candy Boy and Cool Cowboy is being finalized.

Candy Boy left trainer John Sadler’s California stable in late December. Previously owned by breeders Lee and Susan Searing, Candy Boy won 2 of 12 starts and earned $786,800 in the United States.

The Lewis Stakes is Candy Boy’s only stakes win. Other highlights of his 3-year-old season were a third to California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby in April, a second to Shared Belief in the Los Alamitos Derby in July, a nose loss to Tapiture in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby in August, and a third to Bayern in the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in September.

Candy Boy was 13th in the Kentucky Derby after a troubled trip and sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, his most recent start.

The colt is by Candy Ride out of the multiple stakes winner She’s an Eleven, by In Excess.

Cool Cowboy has won 5 of 10 starts and earned $206,180. He has won three stakes, all for Savoy Stables and trainer Dale Bennett, beginning with the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in 2013. A 4-year-old colt by Kodiak Kowboy, Cool Cowboy won two stakes in 2014 – the Golden Circle Stakes at Prairie Meadows and the Sophomore Sprint Championship at Mountaineer Park in November.

Watson said Cool Cowboy had been sick, which delayed the scheduled departure of the two horses until later this month.