Ridden by Luis Saez, Candied was in mid-pack early as Ella Elizabeth (Take Charge Indy) set the pace. On the far turn, Irad Ortiz Jr. darted to the rail aboard Chad Brown first-time-starter Catherine Wheel (Into Mischief). It appeared to be the winning move as the Into Mischief filly opened up by 1 1/2 lengths at the eighth pole. Meanwhile, with a wall of horses in front of him, Saez took the widest route, but it didn't matter as his filly won by three-quarters of a length.

“She had to lose some ground, but she had her face clean and picked up some momentum. I thought it was a quality effort,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Pletcher continued: “We expected her to be a little closer. She had been pretty quick getting away from the gate. She's also been a little bit green. We actually put some blinkers on her a few times to test them out. We felt like she was still learning. She was one of those who was still looking around with the blinkers. So we decided to take them off.”

Pletcher also noted that Candied was having problems changing leads in the stretch.

“That's something we've been working on a lot with her, her lead changes,” the trainer said.  “She's been kind of slow to get totally professional about that. I think there is big room for improvement for her.”

Candied is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and was a $165,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale. The breeder is Buck Pond Farm Inc.

She paid $12.60 and ran the six furlongs in 1:10.89.

The priciest filly in the race was Munny Rockette (Munnings). She sold for $1 million at the OBS March Sale. Trained by Bill Mott, she finished third, beaten 4 1/4 lengths.

CANDIED, a 2YO by @LanesEndFarms stallion Candy Ride breaks her maiden in Race 5 with @luissaezpty aboard for trainer @PletcherRacing! #Saratoga pic.twitter.com/hYIQYQ9N17

— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) August 20, 2023

5th-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 8-20, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.89, ft, 3/4 length.
CANDIED (f, 2, Candy Ride {Arg}–Toni Tools {SW, $193,339}, by Roaring Fever), a 5-1 shot, took her time getting into stride and was in chase mode early from several paths off the rail. She began to inch up into contention into the turn and jockey Luis Saez steered her outside to position her widest of the bunch coming into the lane. With plenty of late run despite drifting towards the rail, Candied got up alongside leader Catherine Wheel (Into Mischief) with a sixteenth to run and turned that rival away to prevail on the wire by three-quarters of a length with favorite Munny Rockette (Munnings) back in third. Toni Tools is responsible for a Solomini colt this year and was bred back to Mind Control. Sales History: $165,000 Ylg '22 FTKJUL. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,750. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners; B-Buck Pond Farm, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.

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Also looking to make her mark first time out, Catherine Wheel (Into Mischief) is an OBS April alum who fetched $725,000. She hails from an extended female family which includes GI Belmont S. winners Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy) and Arcangelo (Arrogate). Joining this pair is Ella Elizabeth (Take Charge Indy), who sold to Gus King for $510,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Old Sale. A full sister to GSW and MGSP Take Charge Paula, the Chad Brown trainee gets the services of Joel Rosario. TJCIS PPS

5th-ELP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 4:37 p.m.
Heading to the Pea Patch, $675,000 OBS April grad Blitz (Uncle Mo) debuts for Gary Barber and DJ Stable. The dark bay filly, out of GSW Customer Base (Lemon Drop Kid), is trained by Mark Casse and will be ridden by Cristian Torres. She drilled :48.00 Aug. 5 at Ellis (4f, 7/49) in preparation for this start.

Also entered is Movin' On Up (Accelerate), who is a well-connected Harvey Clarke Racing Stables homebred. Trained by Brendan Walsh and ridden by Martin Garcia, the gray filly is the first offspring out of Stifle Yourself (Cairo Prince). Second dam Gloria S. (Tapit) produced GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup winner Harvey's Lil Goil (American Pharoah) and she counts GI Kentucky Derby victor I'll Have Another (Flower Alley) and MGSW Golden Award (Medaglia d'Oro) as half siblings. TJCIS PPS

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Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. To follow are the horses entered for Saturday at Saratoga and Ellis Park:

Sunday, August 20, 2023
Ellis 5, $70k, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 2:45 p.m. ET
Horse (Sire), Sale, Price ($), Breeze
Blitz (Uncle Mo), OBSAPR, 675,000, :10.1
Consignor: Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds LLC, agent
Buyer: D J Stable LLC/Gary Barber

Saratoga 5, $136k, 2yo, f, 6f, 3:27 p.m. ET
Brookmesa (Sky Mesa), FTMMAY, 87,000, :10.1
Consignor: Cary Frommer LLC, agent
Buyer: Maddie Hamlin, agent

Catherine Wheel (Into Mischief), OBSAPR, 725,000, :9.4
Consignor: Eddie Woods, agent
Buyer: Richard Schermerhorn/Team Hanley/30 Year Farm

Ella Elizabeth (Take Charge Indy), FTMMAY, 510,000, :10
Consignor: de Meric Sales, agent
Buyer: Jeff Mackor, agent for Gus King

Mischievous Miss (Maximus Mischief), OBSJUN, 140,000, :10
Consignor: de Meric Sales, agent
Buyer: Hidden Brook, agent

Munny Rockette (Munnings), OBSMAR, 1,000,000, :20.4
Consignor: Tom McCrocklin, agent
Buyer: Donato Lanni for Frank Fletcher Racing Operations

Ellis 7, $70k, 2yo, 5f, 3:50 p.m. ET
Rowdy Riot (Runhappy), OBSAPR, 130,000, :10
Consignor: Scanlon Training & Sales, agent
Buyer: Doyle Williams

Tapitboy (Tapiture), OBSAPR, 60,000, :21
Consignor: Fabian Stables LLC, agent
Buyer: Michael Langford

Saratoga 6, $136k, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:02 p.m. ET
Steel Lute (Midnight Lute), OBSMAR, 370,000, :10
Consignor: Julie Davies LLC, agent
Buyer: Sean Flanagan

The post Summer Breezes: Million-Dollar Munnings Leads Busy Sunday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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