ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) -These are bittersweet times for the Capt. Candyman Can camp as they head into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday at Santa Anita.
On one hand, there is the excitement of running the 3-year-old gelding in the richest stakes of his 12-race career. All of that was tempered by the sudden death last weekend of Dr. Joseph Rauch, the horse's co-owner and breeder.
Rauch, a director of the urgent care department at Leesburg Regional Hospital near Ocala, Fla., was 66.
``He was having so much fun with this horse and was looking forward to running him in the Breeders' Cup,'' said trainer Ian Wilkes. ``What makes it so hard is that Mr. Rauch wasn't just a client. He was a friend.''
Capt. Candyman Can, 15-1 from post No. 8 in the six furlong race, comes into the race in good form. He captured the Grade 1 King's Bishop at Saratoga in late August when Vineyard Haven was disqualified for interference. Capt. Candyman Can most recently ran second in the Phoenix Stakes at Santa Anita, rallying from eighth to miss by only a half length.
He ran in a pair of Triple Crown preps early in the year. After a fourth-place finish in the one-mile Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park in February, a collective decision was made to focus on shorter races.
``He was well beaten and he had no excuses,'' Wilkes said.
Since then, Capt. Candyman Can has posted three wins and two seconds in five stakes at distances up to seven furlongs.
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GUNNING FOR THE LEAD: It won't be hard to locate Presious Passion in the $3 million BC Turf on Saturday.
He'll be the one on the lead, probably by a huge margin. The free-running 6-year-old gelding doesn't like company. He sprints away from the pack, defying all challengers to come and get him.
His style flies in the face of traditional wisdom that grass horses must sit and patiently wait to make one bold move in the stretch, especially in 1 1/2-mile races like this.
Presious Passion will have none of that.
``It strikes me as real unusual,'' said trainer Mary Hartmann. ``We originally tried to teach him to do it the way a grass horse is supposed to do it. As he got older, he just wants to do it his way, or no way.''
Turns out, Presious Passion knew best. Since given free rein the last two years to open up at will, Presious Passion has won three Grade 1 stakes: the last two runnings of the United Nations at Monmouth Park and the Clement Hirsch at Santa Anita last month.
``I expect him to be on the lead,'' said Hartmann. ``He seems to be on his game, and ready to rumble. I don't think he's out of his league.''
It will be the first Breeders' Cup appearance for Hartmann and Presious Passion, 4-1 on the morning line.
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LOOSE HORSE: California Flag threw a scare into trainer Brian Koriner, and everyone in his path, when he dumped the exercise rider and ran off Wednesday morning.
A schooling session at the starting gate ended abruptly when California Flag unseated Colleen Hartford, taking off in a full-tilt gallop back to the barn area. Alert work by jockey Aaron Gryder, who was on foot, corralled the horse without incident. Hartford was also uninjured.
California Flag is the 7-2 favorite in the $1 million BC Turf Sprint on Saturday.
On a less tumultuous note, Free Flying Soul (Filly & Mare Sprint), Rainbow View (Ladies' Classic) and Chocolate Candy (Dirt Mile) had their final workouts Wednesday.
Free Flying Soul, 38.20, and Rainbow View, 36.80, both went three furlongs. Chocolate Candy zipped five furlongs in 1:00.40.
