SARATOGA, N.Y. (July 15, 2023) – Northern California Yearling Sale graduate Yo Yo Candy, off at 46-1, pulled away to win Saturday’s $175,000 Grade III Sanford Stakes for 2-year-olds at Saratoga.
Yo Yo Candy is a California-bred by Danzing Candy, out of the Two Punch mare Yolando B. Too, was bred by Checkmate Thoroughbreds, is owned by Happy Tenth Stable and trained by Daniel Velasquez. Yo Yo Candy is the first graded stakes winner for Danzing Candy, a multiple graded winner who stands at Rancho San Miguel.
Yo Yo Candy was a $6,000 purchase at the Northern California Yearling Sale and was resold for $35,000 at the OBS March Sale of 2-year-olds. The colt has two wins in three starts, earnings of $141,250 and was coming off a third in the June 11 Tremont Stakes, which was won by Gold Sweep, the odds-on favorite of the Sanford who stumbled at the start and rallied to finish second.
Ridden by Angel Castillo, Yo Yo Candy ran the six furlongs in 1:11.83 and won by 2 1/4 lengths in a field of nine.
“We made adjustments after we ran at Belmont,” said Velasquez. “We put blinkers on, took him to the gate a few times and I don’t think there was a trainer in this race that trained more specifically for this race than we did. I envisioned it and here we are and it feels great to win.
“The last race he never switched leads and I was upset with myself, it was trainer error. We switched everything — the bridle, put the figure-eight bit and it was a dream after that. I knew that 45-1 just didn’t do him justice. But we’ll take it. He’s a lot of horse.”