Andrew Caulfield on Dubai Sky

Saturday, Turfway Park 
HORSESHOE CASINO CINCINNATI SPIRAL S.-GIII, $535,750, TPX, 3-21, 3yo, 1 1/8m (AWT), 1:50 1/5, ft. 
1–@DUBAI SKY, 123, c, 3, by Candy Ride (Arg) 
     1st Dam: House of Danzing, by Chester House 
     2nd Dam: Danzing Crown, by Danzig 
     3rd Dam: Crownette, by Seattle Slew 
O-Three Chimneys Farm & Besilu Stables; B-Besilu 
Stables LLC (KY); T-William I Mott; J-Jose Lezcano. 
$313,500. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-1, $439,080. *Full 
to Twirling Candy, GISW, $944,900; 1/2 to Ethnic 
Dance (Tribal Rule), GSW, $302,210. Click for the 
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A++. 
Click for the brisnet.com chart, or the brisnet.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. 

Only a couple of weeks ago Bill Oppenheim reminded us of 2005's remarkable crop of new stallions, featuring Tapit, Medaglia d'Oro, Speightstown and Candy Ride. At a time when the top stallions commanded such fees as $500,000 (Storm Cat) and $300,000 (A.P. Indy and Kingmambo), it is worth remembering that two of these newcomers were available for as little as $15,000 (Tapit) and $10,000 (Candy Ride). 

The inexpensive nature of Candy Ride's fee reflected a couple of factors which tend to be unhelpful–to say the least–to a young stallion's prospects. For a start, his debut at stud in February 2005 came roughly 18 months after Candy Ride had last been seen in action on the track. Admittedly, that last appearance–in the GI Pacific Classic–took some forgetting, as he had been fairly spectacular in defeating the likes of Medaglia d'Oro, Fleetstreet Dancer and Milwaukee Brew in a track-record time of 1:59.11, to earn a Beyer figure of 123. His record was made all the more special by the fact that he was still a month short of his actual fourth birthday when he dominated the Pacific Classic. 

Candy Ride's Grade I win at Del Mar took his record in Argentina and the U.S. to a perfect six for six, but he sidestepped the 2003 GI Breeders' Cup Classic and wasn't seen again. 

Arguably a bigger handicap than his long spell on the side lines was his none-too-familiar Argentinian pedigree, which featured daughters of Candy Stripes, Farnesio and Utopico as his first three dams. Breeders were on more familiar territory with his sire, the well-connected Ride The Rails, who had been a smart performer, but not smart enough to earn a stallion career in his native land. 

For the record, this son of Cryptoclearance had won three of his eight juvenile, starts including a stakes race, to earn 111 on the Experimental Free Handicap. Ride The Rails continued to perform well on dirt at three, notably finishing a good third to Dehere and Go for Gin in the GII Foutain of Youth and second to Holy Bull in the GI Florida Derby. Of course Candy Ride's broodmare sire, Candy Stripes, has also made his presence felt via the American exploits of such as Invasor, Leroidesanimaux, Different and Lundy's Liability. 

Needless to say, any doubts about Candy Ride's qualifications have long since been dispelled. By the end of 2008, he ranked third behind Tapit among the freshman sires, thanks principally to the graded stakes successes of Evita Argentina and Capt. Candyman Can. By the end of 2009 his total of first-crop graded winners had been boosted to five by Chocolate Candy, El Brujo and Misremembered. Capt. Candyman Can and Evita Argentina had progressed to become his first Grade I winners and this crop's total of Grade I winners was to rise to four in 2010, when Misremembered took the Santa Anita H. and El Brujo the Pat O'Brien S. 

The Grade I winners have continued to emerge from subsequent crops, to the extent that Candy Ride's fee has now risen to a new high of $60,000. Another hike in his fee may follow next year if he can maintain the excellent start he has made to 2015, which has seen him take second place on the sires' table behind Tapit and ahead of Medaglia d'Oro. He has three graded winners among his six stakes winners, headed by his champion son Shared Belief, whose victory in the GI Santa Anita H. boosted his career figures to 10 victories from 11 starts. 

Three of the supersires mentioned at the start of this article have Kentucky-based sons who will be represented by their first runners in 2015. Tapit relies on Trappe Shot and Speightstown on Haynesfield, while Candy Ride will be hoping to start a dynasty with Misremembered from his first crop and with Twirling Candy and Sidney's Candy, the two Grade I-winning sons from his second crop. 

Rather like their sire before them, Candy Ride's second-crop sons haven't commanded substantial fees early in their careers. Twirling Candy and Sidney's Candy both started out at $15,000, in a year when Uncle Mo was the highest-priced newcomer at $35,000. While Sidney's Candy's fee at WinStar has remained constant at $15,000 in his first four years, Twirling Candy's fee was reduced to $12,500 in his second season and then to $10,000. 

In the circumstances both have done extremely well to sire some high-priced progeny, especially at the recent 2-year-old sales. After achieving a first-crop yearling average of over $61,000, the Santa Anita Derby winner Sidney's Candy has had nine 2-year-olds sell for an average of $143,000 and a median of $100,000. His best price came from his colt out of Broadway Hennessey, who made $560,000 at OBS. Sidney's Candy covered 116 mares in his first season, 104 in his second and 120 in his third. 

Twirling Candy, for his part, has enjoyed spectacular success with his juveniles, especially since his yearling average stood not much higher than $43,000. His six 2-year-olds achieved an average of $374,167 and median of $355,000. He owed his top price to his Sambuca Classica filly, who made $630,000, with colts selling for $500,000, $400,000, $310,000 and $300,000. 

As you might guess from the reduction in Twirling Candy's fee over his first three seasons, he found it harder than Sidney's Candy to maintain breeders' initial interest. After an opening book of 118 mares, he attracted only 72 in his second year and 85 in his third. You can bet that those sensational prices at the 2-year-old sales will change that. 
Twirling Candy's profile received another boost last week, via his younger brother Dubai Sky, who took his career figures to 5-4-0-1 with his success in the GIII Spiral S. at Turfway Park. 

As both brothers were born in February, it is fair to compare the early stages of their careers. This comparison suggests that Dubai Sky probably has further improvement in him, as Twirling Candy didn't become a stakes winner until July 21 in his second season, on only his third start. Dubai Sky has therefore been the more precocious and more active of the two. He will do well, though, to match Twirling Candy's best efforts. The older brother took the GI Malibu S. in the very fast time of 1:19.70 for seven furlongs and also landed a trio of Grade II events over nine furlongs. 

Twirling Candy raced before California's love affair with synthetic tracks began to wither and die. He was asked to tackle a variety of surfaces and proved highly versatile, winning both his starts on turf, half of his six starts on all-weather and two of his three starts on dirt. Younger brother Dubai Sky began his career with four starts on turf and his Spiral S. win came on his all-weather debut. He should prove similarly at home on traditional dirt if Twirling Candy is any guide, so I will be interested to see whether he is supplemented to the Triple Crown (the deadline being 11:59 p.m. yesterday). A mile and a quarter should prove no problem for him. 

Candy Ride was versatile too, as he proved by becoming a Group 1 winner on turf in Argentina and on dirt in the U.S. It is hardly surprising, then, that his progeny have proved unusually effective over a wide range of surfaces. Shared Belief, for example, has won on three types of synthetic and is now shining on Santa Anita's new dirt track. Sidney's Candy was a graded winner on all-weather, turf and dirt, while Misremembered did his graded winning on all-weather and dirt. 
Candy Ride has a fine record with Dubai Sky's family. In addition to Twirling Candy and Dubai Sky, both sons of the twice-raced House of Danzing, the Lane's End resident has sired the Santa Anita Derby runner-up Chocolate Candy from House of Danzing's second dam Crownette. Dubai Sky's fourth dam, In Memory, had the distinction of being a half-sister to the great Affirmed, sired by Affirmed's archrival Alydar.