Chocolate Candy, the 4-to-5 favorite ridden by Russell Baze, surged to the lead at the top of the stretch and went on to post a 1 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 California Derby at Golden Gate Fields Saturday.
Chocolate Candy completed a mile and a sixteenth on the synthetic Tapeta racing surface in 1:43.98 while defeating six rivals in Northern California’s first major race for 3-year-olds with Kentucky Derby dreams. Axel Foley took second by 2 1/2 lengths over
Merus Miami.
Bred in Kentucky by Sid and Jenny Craig and racing for The Craig Family Trust, Chocolate Candy recorded his third victory in seven career starts and his second stakes triumph. The bay son of Candy Ride notched his first stakes win on Nov. 8 when he captured the 1 1/16-mile Real Quiet Stakes at Hollywood Park.
Chocolate Candy raced in sixth in the early stages of the California Derby but accelerated strongly when Baze asked him to pick it up on the far turn.
“He’s got a long, ground-eating stride,” said Baze. “He can move very well while staying within himself. When I leaned forward on him and asked him, he stretched out and held on real well. He dug in and finished well.”
Chocolate Candy paid $3.80 to his throng of backers and earned $60,000 for The Craig Family Trust. Chocolate Candy has earned $262,500 in his seven races and the colt may make his next start in the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby, a 1 1/8-mile contest that will be run Feb. 14 at Golden Gate Fields.
“We’ll give the El Camino Real Derby a lot of consideration because we’re already here,” said Hollendorfer. “The Santa Anita Derby [1 1/8-miles on April 4] is the point race. We want to run in there.”
The El Camino Real Derby is the Bay Area’s top Kentucky Derby prep and the Santa Anita Derby is the West Coast’s premier steppingstone to the “Run For The Roses.” Hollendorfer hopes Chocolate Candy can take him to Churchill Downs.
“A lot of horses come to hand now, and as time goes on you see the standout horses,” said Hollendorfer. “You just try to keep picking off the spots you can and hope to end up in the 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby. Everyone knows it’s a difficult thing to do.”
Hollendorfer, Northern California’s all-time leading trainer, has made it to the Kentucky Derby three times – with Eye of the Tiger (who finished fifth in the 2003 running), Cause to Believe (13th in 2006), and Bwana Bull (15th in 2007).
Racing continues at Golden Gate Fields Sunday and Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Post time both days is 12:45 p.m. Fans attending the track Sunday will enjoy
$1 specials on general parking, general admission, programs, hot dogs, beers and sodas.