Twirling Candy is out of the gate with 12 winners so far, the most of any North American first crop sire. Queen of Silence became winner number one on May 25 with a debut victory going 5/8ths on the Gulfstream Park turf course at odds of 10-1. Three more Twirling Candys have won on the grass and two others have earned victories on the all-weather tracks at Woodbine and Presque Isle Downs.
Overall, the 12 Twirling Candy winners have come at 12 different tracks from California to Oklahoma to Florida and even over the famed course at Epsom Downs in England.
The connections of these early winners appear to feel they have some quality as evidenced by the fact that six of the winners have come back to compete against stakes company. Two of them, Annie's Candy and Conquest Twitter, have picked blacktype placings.
Half of the sons and daughters of Twirling Candy have won at first asking, two second-time out, while a quartet took a little more time to get going, breaking through in their third starts.
Here's the full breakdown of the first 12 Twirling Candy winners:
| Date | Horse | #Start/Race Class Won | Margin | Trainer | Odds | Track | Distance/Footing | Track Condition |
Stakes Appearance |
| 5/25/2015 | Queen of Silence | Debut/Maiden Special | Neck | Antonio Sano | 10.2 | Gulfstream Park | 5F/Turf | Firm | 7th Cassidy S. |
| 6/18/2015 | Uptown Twirl | Debut/Maiden Special | 1/2 | John Sadler | .50* | Santa Anita | 5F/Dirt | Fast | 5th Sorrento S. (G2) |
| 6/19/2015 | Twirling Cinnamon | Debut/Maiden Special | Nose | Brad Cox | 6.3 | Churchill Downs | 5.5F/Dirt | Fast | 8th Sanford S. (G3) |
| 7/11/2015 | Annie's Candy | 3rd/Maiden Special | 3 3/4 | Peter Miller | .20* | Los Alamitos | 5.5F/Dirt | Fast | 3rd Best Pal S. (G2) |
| 7/26/2015 | Rare Candy | 2nd/Maiden Special | 2 1/4 | David Hofmans | 2.30* | Del Mar | 8F/Turf | Firm | 4th Del Mar Juvenile Turf S. |
| 8/4/2015 | Twirling Tiger | 3rd/Maiden Special | 1 | Adam Rice | 2.8 | Presque Isle | 6F/AW | Fast | None |
| 8/9/2015 | Conquest Twister | Debut/Maiden Special | 3 3/4 | Mark Casse | 2.25* | Woodbine | 5F/AW | Fast | 2nd Simcoe S. |
| 8/16/2015 | Twirlabout | Debut/Maiden Special | 5 3/4 | Eric Reed | 1.8 | Mountaineer | 5F/Dirt | Fast | None |
| 8/19/2015 | Gianna's Dream | Debut/Maiden Special | 3 1/4 | Tom Amoss | 1.80* | Remington Park | 5F/Dirt | Fast | None |
| 8/31/2015 | Viren's Army (Ire) | 2nd/Maiden in England | 2 | Richard Hannon | 3.5 | Epsom Downs | 7F/Turf | Heavy | None |
| 9/4/2015 | White Knuckle Ride | 3rd/Maiden Claiming | 1/2 | Eddie Plesa | 6.6 | Monmouth Park | 5.5F/Dirt | Fast | None |
| 9/5/2015 | Flickering | 3rd/Maiden Claiming | 4 1/2 | Dane Kobiskie | 2.20* | Ellis Park | 5.5F/Turf | Firm | None |
*race favorite
Twirling Candy was a speedy and versatile runner on the Southern California circuit so it’s no surprise that we’re seeing his early runners performing on a variety of surfaces.
The son of the brilliant and undefeated Candy Ride went wire-to-wire in his racing debut in November of his juvenile season, a 7F affair over the all-weather surface at Hollywood Park. On the shelf until the following May, he reeled off three more victories, two of them on the grass at Del Mar in the Oceanside Stakes and Del Mar Derby (G2). Twirling Candy suffered his first loss next out against older runners in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes (now the Awesome Again Stakes). He then closed out his three-year-old campaign in with a track record performance, shading 1:20 in the 7F Malibu Stakes (G1) on the Santa Anita main track (1:19.70).
Twirling Candy's dam is a daughter of the Juddmonte Farm-bred turf star Chester House (a half-brother to American Pharoah's grandsire Empire Maker) which helps explain not only his own affinity for the lawn but also his progeny’s. We’ll have to wait and see if the Twirling Candys will excel at longer distances but both of his grandsires were Grade 1 winners at 10 furlongs and his fifth dam produced none other than 1978 Triple Crown hero Affirmed. For now, it's a good idea to give the sons and daughters of Twirling Candy a long look on any surface, at any track, anywhere in the world.