Our Little Monster

October 21, 2009

Fatal Bullet may have earned the “Win and Your In” spot afforded by winning the Phoenix S. (G3) on opening day at Keeneland, but Lantern Hill graduate CAPT. CANDYMAN CAN also stamped his ticket for the $1,000,000 Sentient Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) on November 7 at Santa Anita.

 “You've got to love him, don't you?” said trainer Ian Wilkes, who added the Breeders’ Cup Sprint is likely if all continues well with Capt. Candyman Can.

“You've got to commend the winner; he's a nice horse. But I'm proud of my little monster,” Wilkes continued.

Capt. Candyman Can uncorked a “terrific late run” (DRF’s Marty McGee) and “came flying from eighth at the top of the stretch to just miss while carrying four more pounds than the winner”  (Louisville Courier-Journal’s Jennie Rees).  

Fatal Bullet -- who was 2008 Canadian champion sprinter, Horse of the Year and second in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Sprint -- “held off hard-charging Grade I winner Capt. Candyman Can by a half-length to win” (Thoroughbred Times, Steve Bailey), and the Equibase chart noted Capt. Candyman Can “closed strongly and was getting to the winner with every stride.”

A day earlier, another Lantern Hill offspring, CONCHACER, missed second by a nose in the $150,000 Perryville S. (G3) on Keeneland’s main track.  Winner of the Forward Pass S. at Arlington Park in August, Conchacer (Congaree-Eliot Chacer, by Clever Trick) took on a number of graded stakes winners and was beaten less than a length and a half for the win, after contesting the pace throughout and a prolonged battle through the stretch.  He was bred by Lantern Hill Farm and Lighthouse Group.  A 2007 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase for Brent Fernung, he races for Savoy Stable and is trained by Dale Bennett.