Valentine Candy has heart, wins another Oaklawn stake
HOT SPRINGS — Make it four of a kind for Valentine Candy at Oaklawn Racing Casino Report. Not many horses in track history have bettered that hand.
The Bachelor winner Saturday is the first with four stakes wins in an Oaklawn season since Bob Holthus-trained Overpeer in 1991. To give you some idea of the time lapse, it was before tainer Steve Asmussen began making the Oaklawn record book a personal possession.
Valentine Candy supplied Asmussen his 10th stakes victory of the season, bettering Brad Cox’s one-year record. It was his record ninth win in the Bachelor, following last year’s success with Ryvit. It was also the 114th in Hot Springs for the Hall of Fame horseman, whose more than 10,000 victories represent a North American standard.
With four days left in the Oaklawn season, Asmussen is seeking his record-extending 13th season title at the track.
Valentine Candy won the Advent and Renaissance in December and the Ozark in February. Tying Jackman as a four-time meet winner, the Justify colt was asked to reveal qualities in the Bachelor not required previously at the track.
Call this one a Santana special, authored by eighttime local jockey champion Ricardo Santana Jr. Few in the business look better on a horse in deep stretch when it is time to win or lose.
“This is a super horse,” Santana said. “I just waited as long as I could because he’s got such a short kick. I wasn’t worried about the horse on the lead [Frost Free]. When I asked him, he responded well.”
Frost Free ran well enough to win most races until the final 110 yards, only to lose to Valentine Candy for a third time.The Frosted colt set the opening splits of :21.68 and :45.17 seconds under Ramon Vazquez.
Valentine Candy, fourth on Turfway Park’s Tapeta surface March 23, stopped the timer in 1:10.18, a length and a half over a good-rated surface under 124 pounds, paying $4.80, $3.40 and $2.60.
Brett Creighton trained the runner-up, who bested show horse Cats by Five (another Asmussen runner) in a March 1 Oaklawn optional claimer.
Said Vazquez, “I felt good at the quarter-pole. He was doing it easy. The other horse [Valentine Candy] just flew home.”
Texans Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt are majority owners of Valentine Candy, now 5 for 9 after fetching $250,000 at a February 2022 yearling sale, then breaking his maiden first time out at Saratoga.
The Houston couple, sweethearts at the University of Texas, spend their golden years watching Asmussen trainees excel.
Valentine Candy, who has $477,875 in career earnings, may not be the fastest horse they’ve raced, but they haven’t beaten him at Oaklawn yet.
DIG A DIAMOND Hoosier Philly wins
A year too late to cash in at Churchill Downs, Hoosier Philly looks again like a Kentucky Oaks filly.
Tom Amoss won on the Oaks in 2019 with Serengeti Empress and thought he had another such runner in 2023 after Hoosier Philly notched three straight victories as a 2-year-old.
Into Mischief’s daughter did not get back to Churchill Downs, where she took the Grade II Golden Rod. Hoosier Philly came to Oaklawn on Saturday for her first stakes win outside of Kentucky.
Amoss got the filly’s best effort Saturday in the $200,000 Dig a Diamond. Shooting clear with a rail spurt for Rafael Bejarano’s third riding win on the card, Hoosier Philly won as 6-5 favorite over two longshots, clearly benefiting from a fifth-place run over six furlongs in Oaklawn’s $250,000 Matron on March 30.
“For Hoosier Philly, we wanted to get back on track with her. She needs to get her confidence back,” Amoss said. “And today’s race, she was in tight down the backside and tight around the turn. Bejarano didn’t panic; he got his opening; she kicked clear. I thought she ran a really good race and I think it’s a great race for her confidence.”
With blinkers removed, the winner paid $4.40, $3.40 and $2.80, clocked in 1:39.33 under 115 pounds. Absinthe (17-1 for Steve Asmussen) and Bluelight special (4-1 for Cippy Contreras) completed the trifecta.
Stellar Lily, Ricardo Santana Jr. riding for Ron Moquett, took them to the final turn, whereupon Manny Esquivel inherited the lead on last-out meet winner Bluelight special.
In no hurry, Bejarano swung his mount inside and Hoosier Philly prevailed by 3 3/4 lengths over a fast-rated surface.