It was only a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race, but Taste Like Candy’s 6 1/2-length
debut win at Santa Anita on October 20 suggested the sky was the limit for the
Jerry Hollendorfer-trained filly. She will have an opportunity to prove herself
against a more seasoned group Saturday in the Grade 1, $500,000
Hollywood
Starlet over 1 1/16 miles on Cushion Track.
Sold for a mere $50,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, Taste Like Candy
possesses a pedigree well suited for two turns. Her undefeated sire, Candy Ride,
won the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic, while her A.P. Indy dam, a half-sister to
multiple Grade 1 winner Affirmed Success, won three times from 1 1/16 miles to 1
1/8 miles.
Among those Taste Like Candy will be tested by are Rosalind and Untapable,
both of whom exit the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Rosalind rallied from 16
lengths down to miss by a half-length to Ria Antonia and She’s a Tiger in that
championship event, an effort that followed placings in the Alcibiades at
Keeneland and Pocahontas at Churchill Downs.
Untapable, who won the Pocahontas by a half-length, was already in retreat
when she was forced to check to avoid a fallen rival in the Breeders’ Cup. The
Steve Asmussen charge was virtually eased afterwards, and wound up crossing the
wire eighth in the field of 10.
Arethusa enters the Starlet off a dominating 8 1/4-length, maiden-breaking
score in the $100,000 Sharp Cat, the November 16 course-and-distance prep. A
distant but clear second in the Sharp Cat was Be Proud, one of two from the barn
of trainer Bob Baffert. The other is November 15 debut winner Streaming.
The Starlet field is rounded out by Bajan, winner of the $100,000 Moccasin
and $75,000 Anoakia in her last two, and Sorrento winner Concave, who followed a
troubled trip in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with a third in the Delta
Downs Princess two weeks ago for trainer Doug O’Neill.
Six of the 10 fillies and mares competing in the Grade 2, $150,000
Bayakoa
Handicap are three-year-olds, including probable favorite Fiftyshadesofhay.
Heroine of three graded stakes — the Black-Eyed Susan, Iowa Oaks and Santa
Ysabel — this term, the Baffert-trained miss will tote top weight of 118 pounds
despite finishing third as the odds-on choice in the Indiana Oaks two months
ago.
Other leading sophomore contenders are Warren’s Venada, who is two-for-two
over the main track at Hollywood including a game score in the $100,000 Cat’s
Cradle Handicap for California-breds on November 17; Grade 3 winner Charlie Em,
third in the Autumn Miss and Torrey Pines in her last two; and Magic Union, a
solid allowance winner over Del Mar’s Polytrack two starts back.
Charm the Maker, a close second in the Starlet two years ago and a troubled
fourth in the 2012 Bayakoa, might be the best of the older contenders. She
prevailed in the $94,000 Adoration at Del Mar two starts back.
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