Valentine Candy a Sweet Millionaire in Steel Valley

The winner's circle at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course is a very sweet place for William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, whose white with an orange star silks entered it again Nov. 25 with Valentine Candy after the $300,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes. It was the second straight year in which the Heiligbrodts and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen celebrated success in the Youngstown, Ohio track's feature race. Winning last year as sole owners of Ryvit, the Heiligbrodts spread the love this year with partners Jackpot Farm, Whispering Oaks Farm, and Coteau Grove Farms. The colt entered Monday's race with just over $900,000 in career earnings, and Asmussen had only one thing in mind. "This was a big goal to get him over a million," Asmussen said. "The end of his 3-year-old year, to get over a million dollars—big future." Valentine Candy was bred in Kentucky by Pine Creek. A $250,000 purchase by Jackpot Farm out of the Nicky Drion Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, the son of Justify has worked his way to this special milestone, winning six stakes and eight times overall from 15 starts. He has earned $1,085,080. Breaking well, jockey Jose Ortiz got Valentine Candy into a comfortable rhythm on the far outside as multiple stakes winner Glengarry, making his first start since April, set a contested pace with fractions of :22.13 and :44.96. Favored World Record stalked three-wide, giving Ortiz a perfect target to run at. "I was a little wide every step of the way, but I was following the right horse in World Record," Ortiz said. "I was very confident at the quarter pole that I'd have a lot of horse when I needed him." Glengarry started to show the rust entering the stretch, fighting to keep pace for an extra sixteenth before fading to last of eight. World Record took command inside the three-sixteenths pole with Valentine Candy hot on his heels. The two joined together with a furlong to go and Valentine Candy emerged the victor at the sixteenth pole, winning by 1 1/4 lengths as Maximus Meridus closed to nail World Record for second by a nose. Valentine Candy completed six furlongs in 1:10.34, paying $8.20 to win. The victory gave Ortiz and Asmussen Mahoning Valley's late double after they teamed up one race earlier to take the $200,000 Cheryl S. White Memorial Stakes with Kaleem Shah's Benedetta. The trip to Ohio was well worth it, with Asmussen winning with both his entrants and Ortiz on two of his three mounts. Jockey Flavien Prat came up short with World Record but pulled off a trio of victories that included two $75,000 stakes. All three wins came aboard Timothy Hamm trainees.