Ready for Candy may be a bit "tricky" to train, but she has been oh so sweet for trainer Phil Antonacci.
"She's a little tricky and you have to get along with her. She has her quirks," Antonacci said. "But when it comes to the races, she's as professional as it comes and it allows the rider to do whatever he needs to do with her which makes her dangerous."
Lately, Lindy Farms' Ready for Candy has been quite dangerous as she rallied with determination in the final furlong to post a neck victory over Fast Market in the $200,000 Sands Point Stakes (G2T) for 3-year-old fillies Oct. 18 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
It was the third straight win and second in a row in graded stakes company for the daughter of Twirling Candy , who won the Winter Memories Stakes (G3T) in her previous start.
Up next could be the $175,000 Pebbles Stakes (G3T) Nov. 16 at the Big A or some time off to prepare for a 4-year-old campaign.
"Either we come back in the Pebbles or maybe that might be it for her this year and shut her down for the winter and bring her back at Keeneland in the spring," Antonacci said. "These fillies, you can't run the tank empty. She owes us nothing this year."
The Sands Point featured a rematch of the top four finishers in the Winter Memories, but of the foursome only Ready for Candy had a hand in the outcome.
Paradise City, who was second by a nose in the mile Winter Memories, led from the start until the final furlong in the 1 1/8-mile Sands Point, but then faded to fifth.
Ready for Candy and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. saved ground in third much of the way then tipped out and split horses in midstretch. Meanwhile, Hit The Bid Racing Stable's Fast Market was rallying nicely outside horses and seemed poised to draw clear until Ready for Candy came on the scene.
The two dueled in the final sixteenth with Ready for Candy posting another narrow win in 1:49.44 on firm turf as the 6-5 favorite ($4.38).
"Turning for home, I asked and she gave me a really nice kick. I had a little room so I could get around the seven (Paradise City) and she was much the best today," Santana said. "When my filly put her head in front, I knew the other one was never going to pass her. She fights until the end."
Fast Market, a daughter of Volatile trained by John Terranova II, was second by 1 3/4 lengths over Three Chimneys Farm's Pretty Picture, a Munnings filly trained by Chad Brown.
A winner of three of 10 starts with earnings of $368,421, Ready for Candy was bred in Ontario by Mark Dodson out of the More Than Ready mare Enoree. She was most recently bought for $400,000 from the Shannondoe Farm consignment at the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale.
