Candy Man Rocket Blasts Off in Gulfstream Park Sprint
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson
Candy Man Rocket wins the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park
Several hours after watching Elite Power win the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) and Casa Creed just miss winning the 1351 Turf Sprint (G3) at King Abdulaziz Racecourse on TV, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott was on hand at Gulfstream Park Feb. 25 to witness Candy Man Rocket 's dominating victory in the $125,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes.
Frank Fletcher Racing Operation's 5-year-old son of Candy Ride kept his Gulfstream Park record perfect at 4-for-4 with a two-length victory under Junior Alvarado in the six-furlong sprint for older horses.
Candy Man Rocket, the 7-5 favorite, raced in third along the backstretch after breaking from the outside No. 7 post position, sitting off a torrid pace set by Super Ocho and chased by Lightening Larry . Super Ocho ran the first quarter of a mile in a blistering :21.49 to open a clear lead into the far turn under Emisael Jaramillo. His margin began shrinking on the turn into the homestretch as the Chilean import began to shorten stride while completing a half-mile in :44.21. Candy Man Rocket made a sweeping move past the tiring pacesetter and Lightening Larry to take the lead at the top of the stretch and continued on to win comfortably.
Candy Man Rocket ($4.80) ran six furlongs in 1:09.91 on a fast main track. Lightening Larry finished second, 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Uncle Ernie .
"We thought one of the horses or both of them would go out in front. They both were really rolling. We had a great post, and our horse didn't mind where he was," Mott said.
Candy Man Rocket broke his maiden at Gulfstream in January of 2021 before he captured the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) at Tampa Bay. After losing his next three races, he went to the sidelines 11 months before returning to win an optional claiming allowance by 3 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Feb. 22. Following another layoff of nearly a year, Candy Man Rocket scored by 2 1/4 lengths in a Gulfstream Park optional claiming allowance Jan. 21.
Mott has no definite next-race plan for Candy Man Rocket.
"I don't want to give him a year off again, but I usually give him a little time between races. We'll give him four, six weeks anyway," Mott said.
"I was just a passenger today," Alvarado said. "This horse came with instructions."
Although his runners didn't pull off a sweep of the sprint races in Saudi Arabia, Mott expressed satisfaction with their efforts.
"I couldn't be more proud of both of them. Casa Creed got beat a nose. Here's a horse that's 7-years-old and he keeps showing up," Mott said. "Elite Power is pretty special. We saw that I think in his last six races."
Candy Man Rocket was bred in Kentucky by R.S. Evans out of the winning Forestry mare Kenny Lane who has three winners from six foals to race. He was most recently a $250,000 purchase by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations from the Six K's Training & Sales consignment to the 2020 Ocala Breeders' Sale Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training.