In a battle of three-year-old colts from the Bill Mott barn, it was Candy Man Rocket who outran stablemate Nova Rags to the wire Saturday (February 6), winning the Grade 3, US$250,000 Sam F Davis Stakes.

Candy Man Rocket — named both for sire Candy Ride and for owner Frank Fletcher’s long-haired German Shepherd, Rocket — covered the 1 1/16 miles at Tampa Bay Downs in 1:44.30.

The Sam F Davis score earned Candy Man Rocket his first 10 points on the Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Also earning Derby points Saturday, February 6 were second through fourth-place runners Nova Rags (four), Hidden Stash (two) and Boca Boy (one), while 3-2 favourite Known Agenda missed out on any points by finishing fifth.

Candy Man Rocket was seventh on debut for Mott on November 22 at Churchill Downs, but then routed a Gulfstream Park maiden field by 9¼ lengths January 9 for his first win. Following that 6 ½-furlong score, the Hall of Fame trainer asked the colt to go a full two furlongs further in the Sam F Davis, local prep for the US$400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) on March 6.

Under jockey Junior Alvarado, Candy Man Rocket went toward the front and rated behind pace setter Boca Boy. That 19-1 shot went through fractions of 23.35, 46.94 and 1:10.80.

Candy Man Rocket moved forward through the far turn, coming to Boca Boy’s outside and quickly dispatching him. As he made that move three-wide, fellow Mott trainee Nova Rags — last-out winner of Tampa’s Pasco Stakes — made his bid along the rail.

Alvarado positioned Candy Man Rocket to the inside, while Nova Rags shifted out, looking to get by his stablemate. Nova Rags pushed Candy Man Rocket down the stretch, but the latter prevailed by a length.

“He doesn’t have a real quick turn of foot, but he started grinding it out so I started picking it up and was really pleased by the quarter pole turning for home,” Alvarado said. “At the 16th pole when I switched my stick to the right and showed it to him to see what I had left, he put his head low and kept grinding his way there.”

Candy Man Rocket and Nova Rags are the first two runners to earn 2021 Kentucky Derby points for Mott, trainer of 2019 Derby hero Country House.

“Obviously ( Candy Man Rocket) has some tactical speed and he put Junior in a great spot,” Mott said. “He got into a real nice comfort zone down the backside and Junior let him out a notch going to the 3/8 pole and at that point there wasn’t a whole lot coming from behind. He hit the front a little bit early, which was concerning — he’s still inexperienced and sometimes when they get to the front too early, they tend to wander.

“Junior kept him to the task and he really ran on well and passed the two-turn test.”