“But here is The Candy Man, look at him go, letting loose - and The Candy Man bursts clear. Listen to the roar here at Eagle Farm!”.
The words of Sky Racing’s Josh Fleming captured the moment on Saturday as Queensland’s most popular racehorse used his enormous stride to demolish the opposition in the Magic Millions Shoot Out.
Like thousands of Australian racing fans, Josh has been captivated by the rise of the rangy grey who has carried a legendary set of colours to ten wins and four placings from just twenty one starts. At one stage he put together seven on the trot.
Image courtesy Trackside Photography - Look at the stride on the horse named after Sammy Davis Junior's famous hit.
The Candy Man legend began at the 2015 Magic Millions Two Year Olds in Training Sale. Experienced trainer Barry Baldwin was commissioned by Ray Balkin, Angelo Pippos and Edgar Allan to inspect a Casino Prince colt out of Melody.
Barry liked him as a type and was even more impressed when he watched him “breeze” over 400 metres. “I took a stopwatch along and actually got him a bit better than the official time”, recalled the dual premiership winning trainer. “He moved with ease and good balance. We had to part with $120,000 to buy him from the Lyndhurst Stud draft”.
Ill health forced Ray Balkin out of the syndicate, leaving Angelo “Lucky” Pippos and Edgar Allen as co-owners. In naming a colt out of a mare called Melody, the first name submitted was “Sinatra” - it was quickly disallowed.
Much consultation followed with families and friends after which “The Candy Man” was proposed as a likely name. This classic song was written for the 1971 movie Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, but was later independently recorded by Sammie Davis Jnr. It was to become the legendary performer’s only Number 1 hit and his signature tune from then on.
The Candy Man started at $26.00 when he made his debut in a Sunshine Coast 2YO event on 8/05/2016, finishing 5th about 6 lengths from the winner. “The race brought him on enormously and I was pretty confident going into his second run a fortnight later”, recalled Barry Baldwin. “Sadly a freak accident was to put him out for more than two years and incur massive veterinary expenses for the owners”.
Connections were totally devastated when the son of Casino Prince suffered a shattered jaw in a stable accident. Lucky Pippos and Edgar Allan elected to go ahead with surgery even though the vets were not confident of success. “The operation took nine hours, involving seven plates and more than fifty screws - one of the plates had to be removed later when a dangerous infection set in.
Image courtesy Trackside Photography - It is hard to believe that vets rebuilt The Candy Man's jawline three and a half years ago.
This wasn’t the last of The Candy Man’s woes. Some months later he had an infected tooth extracted and that was followed by surgery to remove a sequestrum from a hind leg. For the uninitiated, a sequestrum is a dead piece of bone which has become detached from a main bone.
Two years and four months after the jaw surgery, The Candy Man had a soft trial at Doomben before returning to the races as a five year old. He registered three minor placings at the Sunny Coast and Ipswich before shedding his Maiden status at Doomben with Michael Cahill in the saddle.
Eighteen days later with Damian Browne replacing Cahill, The Candy Man gave notice of his untapped ability. The lanky grey was “asleep” when the gates opened, missing the start by an estimated ten lengths. He disposed of a Class 1 field by a handy margin, generating the ‘wrap’ which has followed him around ever since. This was the perfect time for Barry to put him away.
The Candy Man reappeared twelve weeks later. He ran second in a Doomben trial before embarking on a winning rampage. He put together five wins on the trot in seven weeks, from Class 3 to Group 3 culminating in the Premiers Cup at Eagle Farm. Michael Cahill was his jockey in four of those wins, with Nathan Day on board in the other.
Image courtesy Trackside Photography - Barry Baldwin accepts the trophy after The Candy Man's Premiers Cup win.
Next assignment was the Brisbane Cup (2400m) in which the grey finished a distant 15th, but Barry would love to have it over again. “We took him out of his comfort zone in riding him forward”, says the trainer. “He was never comfortable. You’ve only got to look at his win on Saturday to realise there’s only one way to ride him”.
Following his winter spell The Candy Man returned with a Sydney trip on the agenda. He had one barrier trial and one unplaced run at Eagle Farm before heading south. The gelding failed to place in four NSW runs, but Barry wasn’t too disappointed. “His blood wasn’t as good as I’d hoped and I’m sure he fretted away from home”, said Baldwin. “From the moment we got home he was a different horse. He did so well in the stable, we decided to push on to our summer carnival with happy results”.
The Candy Man has found the best form of his career in recent weeks. He won the Mooloolaba Cup by a widening 2.8 lengths, ran third in the Listed Brisbane Hcp, won an Eagle Farm Quality by 2.3 lengths and Saturday’s Magic Millions Shoot Out by almost three lengths. “I don’t think I’ve seen him go better than he did on Saturday”, said Barry. “He made light of 60.5kgs and put them away in a few strides after a perfect Brad Stewart ride”.
The gelding now escapes the ballot for the Magic Millions Trophy on Jan 11th, in which Brad Stewart will retain the ride. “There’s certain to be a full field and our bloke will get back a fair way, so I’m hoping for plenty of pace”, said the trainer.
The Candy Man is just under seventeen hands in height, but isn’t the most robust horse. “He’s tall and rangy but not as heavy as other horses in my stable”, says Barry. “In fact he’s only 494kgs on the weighbridge. They come a lot heavier than that”.
According to his trainer The Candy Man has only one quirk. “He has a thing about cameras - TV cameras, press cameras, any kind of camera”, explained Barry. “He snorts and carries on a treat if anybody gets too close with a camera. He’s very agitated by them. Maybe it’s a legacy of his many months in the vet clinic when he was scanned and x/rayed dozens of times”.
Right at the moment The Candy Man is infinitely sounder than his trainer. Barry is only recently over major hip surgery and was just starting to get around confidently when disaster struck in the stable hosing dock. “I went in there to instruct a new staff member on the fundamentals of hosing a horse, when I caught my foot on a rubber mat and toppled over backwards”, lamented the trainer. “Result is a broken left ankle. I was on crutches at Eagle Farm on Saturday but all my pain went away when “Frankie” charged to the front in the straight.
Barry Baldwin with his Stradbroke winner, La Montagna.
The stable name of “Frankie” is a carryover from the days when the owners tried to get the name “Sinatra” for their grey colt. Part owner Angelo Pippos is the younger brother of George Pippos who was a part owner of the iconic galloper Gunsynd, a star of the Australian turf in the early seventies.
Winner of 29 races, the gallant Gunsynd had a tremendous record in WFA events up to 2400 metres, but was at his devastating best at a mile, winning an Epsom, a Doncaster, a Toorak Hcp and a George Adams Mile. He wasn’t a genuine stayer, but sheer courage carried him into third place in the 1972 Melbourne Cup.
Unlike The Candy Man, Gunsynd absolutely loved a camera. He revelled in the attention of the media throng and his adoring public. The “Goondiwindi Grey” raced throughout his career in purple and white halves with a purple cap. These were the colours of George Pippos and happily they remained in the family following his death ten years ago. Angelo “Lucky” Pippos has used them on several horses in recent years including his current headliner.
The Candy Man isn’t Gunsynd. Nor can he be classified in the same category as other great Queenslanders like Dalrello, Strawberry Road and Vo Rogue. He has however generated his own popular image with his victory over adversity, his crowd pleasing racing style and the grey coat turning whiter by the day.
Watching him on Saturday with those giant strides devouring the new Eagle Farm turf and those purple and white silks glinting in the sun, it wasn’t hard to imagine it really was the ghost of Gunsynd.
Barry enjoyed a successful partnership with Michael Cahill during his Macau training stint.
(Banner image courtesy Trackside Photography - The Candy Man strolls home in the Magic Millions Shoot Out at Eagle Farm.)