'Smokey' and 'Candy' Hook Up in Morning Work

Smokey Image and Danzing Candy put on an unintentional preview of the March 12 San Felipe (gr. II) during their morning workouts Feb. 27 at Santa Anita Park.



In the last workout session of the day, the two Triple Crown hopefuls found each other. Danzing Candy, with Mike Smith aboard, and workmate Radio Silent broke first, but Smokey Image and Victor Espinoza were right behind.



A little rank early and four lengths back, not overjoyed with the dirt in his face, Smokey Image moved three wide alongside the Cliff Sise-trained pair through most of the turn but settled in the stretch and cruised to hit the wire in 1:12 1/5, about two lengths behind Danzing Candy. The time was tied for the fastest drill at the distance, among 30 workers at six furlongs Saturday morning. Cautious Giant also worked 1:12 1/5. 



"Do you believe we did that again?" trainer Carla Gaines said to Espinoza after the work, referencing the Southern Image   colt's penchant for finding trouble in the mornings.



BALAN: Smokey Image Finds Trouble Again in Workout



Danzing Candy received an official time of 1:13 flat from the Santa Anita clockers, but unlike Smokey Image, Smith asked the Twirling Candy   colt a little bit at the end of the work. Sise, who clocked the work significantly faster at 1:12 1/5, was happy after the drill.



"It was very good," Sise said. "I had it in 1:12 1/5 and a gallop out (to seven furlongs) in 1:25 2/5."



Other news from Santa Anita Saturday morning:

• Gaines-trained Bolo, last out winner of the Arcadia Stakes (gr. IIT), logged his first breeze since the Feb. 13 race. He covered five furlongs in 1:00 flat and Gaines said she’s considering the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) on dirt and the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (gr. IT) on grass for the Temple City   colt’s next start. Both grade I events are March 12 at Santa Anita. Bolo doesn’t lack dirt experience—he came in third behind Dortmund in last year’s San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) and finished 12th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I)—but all four of his wins have been on the turf.




• Flavien Prat’s agent, Derek Lawson, reported his jockey will ride Hoppertunity in the $10 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) March 26 for trainer Bob Baffert. In his first race with Prat, the grade I-winning son of Any Given Saturday outlasted Imperative at the wire to win the San Antonio Stakes (gr. II) Feb. 6. The victory snapped a nine-race winless streak for Hoppertunity, although he never finished worse than fourth during that time.




• Also scheduled to make the trip to Dubai for a March 26 race is Frank Conversation. The Doug O’Neill-trained colt worked four furlongs Saturday at Santa Anita in :49 flat in preparation for the $2 million UAE Derby (UAE-II). It was his first drill since his score in the El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) at Golden Gate Fields Feb. 13. His two stakes wins have been over the Golden Gate synthetic track, but O’Neill is encouraged by the way he trains over dirt. “He’s worked well on the dirt and he travels like he’s fine on the dirt,” O’Neill said. “The two dirt starts he’s had, you can put a line through. The first was sprinting at Del Mar (in a maiden special weight), which you need to be a Breeders’ Cup sprinter to win those, and (in the Los Alamitos Futurity, gr. I) we asked Mario (Gutierrez) to put him out front, because we thought there was no pace and that backfired.”




• Another El Camino Real runner, Diplodocus—who came in fifth in the Bay Area prep—will likely head to Turfway Park for the $500,000 Spiral Stakes (gr. III) April 2, according to trainer Richard Baltas. “He ran really well in the El Camino Real Derby,” Baltas said. “He had trouble that race and still ran a good race. He’s starting to develop.”




• Texas Red recorded his fourth workout of the year Saturday. He covered five furlongs in 1:02 3/5 for trainer Keith Desormeaux.