Trainer John Sadler took a spot part-way up the grandstand, trained his
binoculars on the two horses in the midst of a serious exercise over the main
track Sunday morning and communicated to the riders via a walkie-talkie.
“Steady, steady, not too fast,” he said as they came around the turn into
the stretch. “Perfect,” Sadler said as they crossed the finish line
together.
Twirling Candy, with Joel Rosario up, went a half-mile in 48 flat on
Sadler’s stopwatch, 47 4/5 on that of clocker Steve Stute. Twirling Candy broke
off a length behind stablemate Domonation, eased up alongside turning into the
stretch and stayed there before galloping out past the wire five furlongs in
1:00 2/5. Domonation’s official time was :48.00 for four furlongs.
Jenny Craig and the other Twirling Candy owning partners, Will Farish and
Marty Wygod, plan to meet with Sadler soon for purposes of making a final
decision regarding Twirling Candy’s participation in the Pacific Classic on
Sunday, August 28.
Twirling Candy exited the track at around 7:30. About ninety minutes later
Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude, with Chantal Sutherland in the irons,
took the track for trainer Bob Baffert, going five-eighths in 1:00 3/5 with
track clockers noting splits of :26 and :48 4/5. Game On Dude gave stablemate
Awesome Patriot a four-length head start, but reportedly was pulling away from
his younger stablemate by the end of the work. Awesome Patriot’s official
clocking was 1:01.40 for five furlongs.
“He worked very nice,” Baffert said of Game On Dude. “He’s going in
the Pacific Classic.”
First Dude, winner of the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 9 at Hollywood Park,
remains stabled at the Inglewood track.