Facing winners for the first time, Chocolate Candy overcame a slow start to win the $100,000 Real Quiet Stakes for 2-year-olds at Hollywood Park Nov. 8.
Ridden patiently by Garrett Gomez, Chocolate Candy came three wide into the stretch and charged to the lead inside the sixteenth pole to register a 1 1/2-length victory.
The bay son of Candy Ride , sixth in the early going, covered 1 1/16 miles on Cushion Track in a stakes-record time of 1:42.25, breaking the mark set last year by Colonel John.
Sent off as the fifth choice in a field of seven, Chocolate Candy paid $15.60, $6.80, and $3.80.
J P Jammer, who held on gamely under Aaron Gryder after setting the pace (:23.90, :47.88, 1:12.25), returned $4.40 and $2.60. The 13-10 choice Charlie’s Moment, who challenged J P Jammer turning for home, never got by him and settled for third, paying $2.20 under Joel Rosario.
Chocolate Candy, a homebred owned by the Craig Family Trust, needed four starts to break his maiden, but he has now won two in a row to boost his earnings to $99,000.
Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Chocolate Candy showed his promise when finishing second in his third start while running around two turns for the first time at Del Mar. His effort in the Real Quiet established him as a serious threat for the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (gr. I) at Hollywood Dec. 20.
“This colt’s been coming along real good all year long, and we’ve had a lot of confidence in him," Hollendorfer said. "He ran a really good race today. When (Charlie’s Moment) moved, our horse rated back off the pace and came running. I think that shows a lot about this horse’s ability. It took him a while to figure things out, but now that he’s routing, I think he’s doing very well.”
Chocolate Candy is out of Crownette, by Seattle Slew.