Favored Holy Candy, pulled up in the final furlong as the favorite in the second division of the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar July 18, apparently was not seriously injured.
“He’ll be OK,” trainer John Sadler said as Craig Stables and Donkey Island Racing's Holy Candy was being given a bath outside the trainer's barn on the morning of July 19. “We’re going to do some diagnostics, some testing, X-rays and stuff like that. We don’t have a complete diagnosis yet, but we’ll have that in a couple of days. We did X-ray him last night and everything was clean.”
Without a full diagnosis, Sadler declined to speculate on the specifics of the injury to the gray son of Candy Ride , but said the general area could be in the “high suspensory” ligament area of the left foreleg.
“The good news is he’s going to be fine. He’ll be given some time off. How much is yet to be determined.”
Holy Candy was making his turf debut in the one-mile Oceanside and was sent off as the even-money choice. After angling in from his far outside post after the start by jockey Garrett Gomez, Holy Candy trailed the field throughout before pulling up in the stretch. He was vanned off as a precaution.
Holy Candy
Benoit Photo