Consistent filly looks like one to beat in duPont

BALTIMORE – Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher can always count on Candied.

The 4-year-old filly is one of the more consistent horses in his ample barn; she just doesn’t have a stockpile of victories to show from it. The daughter of Candy Ride looks to be the filly to beat in Friday’s 32nd running of the $125,000 Allaire duPont Distaff Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.

The duPont will be run at 1 1/8 miles and drew a field of eight filles and mares aged 3 and up.

In her 10-race career, Candied, a daughter of Candy Ride has competed in eight graded stakes races, seven of them Grade 1s.

In her last start, Candied was third in the Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) at Keeneland, her first race since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Del Mar behind 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna and Raging Sea. Candied was second in both of the marquee races for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga last year, beaten a head by Power Squeeze in the Alabama (G1) and by 41/2 lengths behind Thorpedo Anna in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1).

“She has definitely held strong company lines,” Pletcher said. “We are looking at this race as maybe an opportunity to get on the right track. I thought her (Doubledogdare) was steady against a nice field of horses. She just seemed a little late on her lead changes, as she has often been, and she got a little bit lost in the middle of the race. It was a good starting point and something we can hopefully build on.”

Candied is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and B Flay Thoroughbreds and will have the services of jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. They will start from post position three.

Pletcher has always had high hopes and expectations with Candied, who was a $165,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sale. After breaking her maiden on Aug. 20, 2023 at Saratoga, Pletcher went straight to the Alcibades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland in early October. She won by a length for her only Grade 1 win. In her other seven Grade 1 starts, she has been on the board in six of them.

“To go from a maiden to a race as prestigious as the Alcibades is hard to do,” Pletcher said. “We are proud of her and her resume. She has been a little unlucky in her career, but she has been super consistent her entire career.”

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas brought six horses with him to Pimlico.

“I feel like I am going to be competitive,” Lukas said. “Some of these horses I brought here might jump up.”

One of them could be Lemon Muffin, a gray 4-year-old filly who will be stepping up in company.

Lukas got the idea for this spot after watching Lemon Muffin and jockey Nik Juarez splash down the sloppy stretch at Churchill Downs in a 1-mile allowance race on May 3, Kentucky Oaks Day.

Owned by Aaron Sones and Julie Gilbert, Lemon Muffin earned her first win of the year in her fifth start. For her career, the daughter of Collected has two wins, six seconds and a third in 18 starts on dirt.

“Her last race was pretty damn good,” Lukas said. “She got left and was, 12, 14 lengths back and then came rolling through the stretch and got the whole thing. I thought she was starting to come around and we’ll give her a chance here.”

Lemon Muffin has raced five times on a wet track and has three seconds to go along with her victory the last time out.

Lukas knows this will be the toughest spot in Lemon Muffin’s career, but after watching her run in Kentucky and how she has trained, he is anxious to see how she competes in this field of eight. Lemon Muffin and Juarez will start from post position eight

Miss Hebrides, a 4-year-old filly by Mendelssohn, will be making her first start for trainer Ron Moquett and owner Bowen Thoroughbred Racing LLC. She came into the barn after she was purchased for $150,000 at the Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale in April.

In four prior starts this year, Miss Hebrides has two wins, a second and a third. She was third as the favorite in her last start, an overnight stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 28.

“She is a very sound and nice filly,” Moquett said. “This is a good place to start with her; this is the race we penciled in for her when we bought her.”

Luis Saez will ride for the first time and they will start from post two.

Trainer Brittany Russell will send SF Racing LLC’s Sea Dancer to the DuPont with jockey Sheldon Russell from post five. The 4-year-old daughter of Mastery has one win in three starts this year, the lone victory coming in the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 15.

In her last start, Sea Dancer was fourth in the Heavenly Cause Stakes, also at Laurel, on April 12. That race came just a week after she was fourth in the seven-furlong Distaff Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct.

“I don’t think she ran that bad off a week’s rest,” Brittany Russell said. “The pace was just kind of a little bit hard for her.”

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and owner Miller Racing LLC will send Dazzling Move into the duPont. The 4-year-old daughter of Not This Time will be making her third start of the year and 17th of her career. When last seen, she finished fifth, beaten eight lengths in the Madison Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 8.

In the start before that, Dazzling Move, who will leave from post position one with jockey Jose Ortiz, won the Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park.

Also entered in the duPont are 4-year-old Peignoir, trained by Rodolphe Brisset and owned by Fletcher and Carolyn Gray and Doug Hesterly. This will be the first start for the daughter of Mendelssohn since winning an off-the-turf 1 1/16-mile off the turf allowance race at Keeneland by 7 ¼ lengths in gate-to-wire fashion.

Flavien Prat returns to ride and they will start from post position six.

Regaled, owned by Brittnee Caballero and trained by Samuel Davis, is a neck short of being undefeated in two starts this year. The 4-year-old by Mohaymen ralled to just miss in the 1-mile Heavenly Cause Stakes at Laurel over a muddy track on April 12. In the start before that, she was a three-length winner in a Laurel allowance, this time on a sloppy track, on Feb. 16. Jockey Vomar Ortiz remains on board and they have post seven.

The lightly raced but undefeated Sudden Switch, a 4-year-old Munnings filly, will represent trainer Riley Mott for owners Todd Senger, Rebel Racing LLC and Dennis Park. She broke her maiden at Tampa by three lengths on Jan. 25 and then had a gate-to-wire score by 4 ½ lengths in a 1 1/16-mile Keeneland allowance on April 10.