The Pamplemousse drills 6 furlongs (3/25)
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The Pamplemousse, Pioneerof the Nile and Chocolate Candy, the three favorites for the Grade I, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, each worked on Pro-Ride Wednesday as the countdown began in earnest for the West Coast’s major prep for the Kentucky Derby on May 2. Sham Stakes winner The Pamplemousse, expected to be a slight favorite over Pioneerof the Nile in the mile and an eighth Santa Anita Derby, worked six furlongs under regular rider Alex Solis in 1:13 flat. Pioneerof the Nile, winner of three straight graded stakes, including the San Felipe on March 14, went six furlongs under former jockey Joey Steiner in a bullet 1:11.40, fastest of 12 drills at the distance, while Chocolate Candy worked one mile in 1:38.60 under Joel Rosario, who rides the son of Candy Ride in the Santa Anita Derby for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. They gave him 13 flat, but I caught him in 1:12 3/5,” said Miguel Delgado, assistant to Julio Canani, who is in Dubai for World Cup day on Saturday. “He galloped out (seven furlongs) in (one) 27 and three (fifths).” Added Solis: “That’s what we wanted. He was five or six wide, and the last 16th, he tends to get a little bored. But he wont be bored on the fourth of April. He better have his running shoes on.” “He went very nice,” Bob Baffert said of Pioneerof the Nile under blue skies and sunshine at Clockers’ Corner. “He relaxed early and picked it up in the lane. It looks like it didn’t take much out of him. So far, so good.” Added Steiner: “I kind of wanted to get something in front him, because he likes a little bit of a target, but he went perfect. He was very comfortable. He’s traveling good and showing some class, and that’s all you can ask.” “He went the half in about :50, five-eighths in 1:02.25, six furlongs in 1:14.25, seven in 1:26.53, and I got 1:38.91,” Hollendorfer said of El Camino Real Derby winner Chocolate Candy. “So if the clockers gave him 1:38 3/5, that’s very close. Dan (Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward) got 1:38.75.” Wednesday’s drill was an improvement from last Thursday, when Chocolate Candy went a mile at Golden Gate Fields in 1:41.20. “I wasn’t satisfied with the way he did it up there,” Hollendorfer said. “That’s why I wanted to go a mile here, to see if the Golden Gate track was dead that day, which it was. I started him off too fast up there, and went slower today, and Rosario did an excellent job. We went slow the first part, the first eighth in :13.66, and then :25.91, and he finished up really good, so that’s what we were looking for.” Hollendorfer said if all goes well, Chocolate Candy will blow out a half-mile Tuesday before the race. Probable for the 72nd Santa Anita Derby, one of five stakes to be decided on April 4: Chocolate Candy, Joel Rosario; Feisty Suances, no rider; Mr. Hot Stuff, Corey Nakatani; The Pamplemousse, Alex Solis; and Pioneerof the Nile, Garrett Gomez.