Twirling Candy stays perfect in Oceanside

The Craig Family Trust's TWIRLING CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]) moved his record

to a perfect three-for-three on Wednesday when taking the traditional

opening-day feature at Del Mar, the $112,500

Oceanside S., under a hand ride from jockey Joel Rosario.

Sent off the 4-5 favorite while making his stakes bow in the one-mile turf

test, Twirling Candy overtook Macias (Purge) in the stretch run after tracking

that rival in third through easy splits of :23 2/5, :47 3/5 and 1:11 3/5. After

saving ground on the rail during the early part of the race, the dark bay colt

angled out on the backstretch and swung three wide rounding the turn. He

proceeded to run down Macias on the outside, stopping the clock in 1:34 3/5 over

the firm going.

Twirling Candy paid $3.60, $3.20 and $2.60 while keying the $6 exacta ($1)

and $29.30 trifecta ($1). Macias followed by 2 1/4 lengths but easily held

second over Gallant Gent (Yankee Gentleman) to return $3.80 and $3 at 7-2.

Gallant Gent rallied to take third by a half-length, giving back $4.20 at 13-1.

Just Magic (Five Star Day), sent off at 30-1, followed in fourth, completing the

3-6-9-8 superfecta ($1) that totaled $379.

Face and an Ace (Came Home), Hockley (A.P. Indy), Domonation (Maria's Mon),

Very Fair (Our New Recruit), Killer Bear (Northern Devil) and Brady Blue Eyes

(Sky Mesa) rounded out the order of finish.

Twirling Candy began his racing career on the Cushion Track at Hollywood

Park, scoring in his maiden debut by three parts of a length while going seven

furlongs last November. The John Sadler charge returned May 29 back on the

Cushion Track, dominating a 6 1/2-furlong allowance/optional claimer by 7 3/4

lengths. The victory in the Oceanside pushed his earnings to $114,900.

Bred in Kentucky by Sid and Jenny Craig, Twirling Candy is the first

registered foal out of House of Danzing (Chester House) and has an unraced

juvenile full sister named Dulcito, an unnamed yearling full brother and a 2010

half-brother by Tribal Rule. His third dam is Crownette (Seattle Slew), who

captured the 1992 Santa Ysabel S. before going on in the breeding shed to

produce Grade 3 winner Chocolate Candy (Candy Ride [Arg]).

Crownette is herself out of In Memory, a half-sister to dual Horse of the

Year and multiple champion Affirmed (Exclusive Native), the last horse to

complete the historic Triple Crown. In a funny twist, In Memory is by Affirmed's

rival Alydar, who ran second in all three legs of the Triple Crown.

The 1 1/16-mile La Jolla H. (G2) on August 14 is the second leg of Del Mar's

turf series for three-year-olds, and it wraps up with the 1 1/8-mile Del Mar

Derby (G2) on September 5.