From some angles, Twirling Candy could have gone the Charlie Sheen route, squandering the advantages of good breeding and ample opportunity by indulging in behaviors of questionable worth.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Twirling Candy will carry top weight of 122 pounds when he attempts to win his third consecutive stakes in Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap.

The winner of the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes in track record time on Dec. 26, and the effortless winner of the Grade 2 Strub Stakes on Feb. 5, Twirling Candy will be a strong favorite in the Big Cap, which is run over 1 1/4 miles and is the top race for older horses in California in the first half of the year.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The partial sale of Twirling Candy to Marty Wygod and Lane’s End Farm announced on Thursday will not affect the 4-year-old colt’s 2011 racing season, said trainer John Sadler.

Next Saturday, March 5, Twirling Candy, the winner of the Malibu and Strub stakes, will be favored to win the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap.

In the long term, it is likely that Twirling Candy will be pointed for the Pacific Classic in August at Del Mar, which is near the home of owner Jenny Craig, and a track that she enthusiastically supports.

ARCADIA, Calif. – His trainer describes him as “the best horse in the country.” The jockey calls him “unbelievable.”

Those accolades aside, this much is certain: Twirling Candy scored an easy win in Saturday’s $200,000 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds at Santa Anita. Twirling Candy won the Grade 2 race by 4 1/2 lengths over Tweebster, a margin that could have been much greater if jockey Joel Rosario had urged the colt at all in the final furlong.

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ARCADIA, Calif. – Before his disappointing race in the Goodwood Stakes last fall, it appeared that Twirling Candy was headed to the Breeders’ Cup, with either the Dirt Mile or the Classic a viable option. But his camp regrouped after that setback, setting their goals farther down the road.

ARCADIA, Calif.-Twirling Candy, who set a seven-furlong track record in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60 at Santa Anita on Sunday.

The exercise, in company with the claimer Hammurabi, who was given the same time and the designation breezing, was the first work for Twirling Candy since the Malibu. Trainer John Sadler said that Twirling Candy missed four or five days of training in early January because of a bruised foot.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A day after two longstanding track records were broken on the debut of a newly installed sand-and-clay racetrack at Santa Anita, the horses who set the records emerged without mishap, and horsemen and track executives said they were pleased with the way the track performed.

While many trainers had expected the track to be quick, considering workout times from recent weeks, Sunday’s times on the opening day of the spring-summer meeting were surprisingly fast.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Twirling Candy broke Spectacular Bid’s 30-year-old track record for seven furlongs with a nose victory in Sunday’s $250,000 Malibu Stakes on the first card run on the new dirt track at Santa Anita.

Twirling Candy won the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes by the narrowest of margins over Smiling Tiger, finishing in 1:19.70. Spectacular Bid was timed in 1:20 when he won the same race in 1980.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – There was plenty of debate after the Del Mar Derby, owing to the antics of Twirling Candy and the decision by the stewards to leave him in first after a severe bumping incident five furlongs from the wire. Lost amid the controversy, though, was something everyone, in hindsight, could agree on, that Twirling Candy finished brilliantly, displaying the talent only the very special possess.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will ride the undefeated 3-year-old Twirling Candy for the first time in the $250,000 Goodwood Stakes at Hollywood Park next Saturday, replacing Joel Rosario, who rides in Pennsylvania that day.

Smith had the option of riding Richard’s Kid, winner of the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 28, in the Goodwood, but was asked by trainer John Sadler to ride Twirling Candy, who is owned by Jenny Craig.

“I approached him,” Sadler said.