Ollie’s Candy will pursue Grade 1 victory at Del Mar

A horse that began her career at Golden Gate Fields couldn’t accomplish much more in four starts than Ollie’s Candy has this year.

The 3-year-old filly dominated two sprints on Golden Gate’s synthetic surface, then won the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks going 11⁄16 miles on dirt at Santa Anita and finished second in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes going 1 mile on grass at Del Mar.

She’ll try to give trainer William E. Morey the first Grade 1 victory of his career when she hits the grass again in Saturday’s $300,000 Del Mar Oaks.

“This is what we’re all here for,” Morey said. “This is why you come to a big circuit like Southern California. You want to win the big ones, and this is what you’re after — a Grade 1.”

One of the Bay Area’s top trainers since branching out from the stable of his late father, Bill Morey Jr., in 2001, William E. Morey added a Southern California division in early 2017.

Over the course of the past six meetings at Del Mar and Santa Anita, Morey has won with 32 of 126 starters, and he collected his first graded victory with Coniah in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes on Jan. 20.

Ollie’s Candy clearly is the stable star, however.

Not only has she handled all surfaces, but she showed another dimension of versatility when she rallied from ninth place to lose the San Clemente Stakes by just a neck. She hadn’t been worse than second at any portion of her previous three starts.

“It didn’t surprise me,” Morey said. “I think she can do it either way. She’s a really classy filly. She does what good horses do; there’s a way about her. She’s always in the feed tub, wants to train and just does what a good horse does.”

Owned by San Francisco residents Paul and Karen Eggert, Ollie’s Candy is the 9-2 second choice in the morning line against 11 opponents in the 11⁄8-mile Del Mar Oaks.

Unlike the San Clemente Stakes, which had a field filled with front-runners, the Del Mar Oaks is loaded with horses that come from well behind. So Ollie’s Candy should race close to the pace, which is likely to be set by Ms Bad Behavior.

“The mile and an eighth and her No. 4 post position should help that,” Morey said. “She’s training great and doing super.”

Breeders’ Cup sites: The Breeders’ Cup has chosen Santa Anita, Keeneland and Del Mar to host its World Championships from 2019-2021 respectively, continuing its recent venue rotation between California and Kentucky tracks.

Louisville’s Churchill Downs will host races on Nov. 2-3. The last Breeders’ Cup held outside California and Kentucky was at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park in 2007. The Associated Press contributed to this

report.