Lady Candidate hangs tough to capture Mariah’s Storm at Arlington

by Sarah Mace

Lady Candidate did not disappoint as 1-2 favorite in Arlington Park’s $67,100 Mariah’s Storm Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday afternoon, but needed to pull out a few stops to get the job done after she was forced to duel a tenacious rival into submission and then find the wire before being caught by an energetic late closer.

Owned by Marty Nixon’s Feel the Thunder Stable in partnership with co-breeder John H. Adger and trainer Mike Stidham, Lady Candidate (Bob and John) made her stakes debut on Saturday on the heels of a noteworthy performance in her 2012 opener, when she humbled a field of her elders by 13 3/4 lengths in an entry level allowance race. The allowance victory, like the Mariah’s Storm, was run at a single-turn mile on the Arlington Polytrack.

Ridden by James Graham, aboard for all four previous starts, Lady Candidate had company from the break on Saturday in the form of St. Louis City (City Place), last-out winner of an overnight sprint stakes at Arlington. After switching off the rail into the two path, Lady Candidate vied with her rival for the length of the backstretch, though the turn and into late stretch.

When St. Louis City tired in the final stages, Ire (Political Force) came closing fast on the grandstand side, but Lady Candidate still managed to stay a neck still to the good when she crossed the wire. After a half in 47.56, the final time for the mile over the Polytrack was 1:38.86.

An open-length maiden-breaker at second asking on conventional dirt at Fairgrounds, Lady Candidate has won three of five starts and earned $92,369.

Bred by John H. Adger and C. Lynwood O’Cain DVM, and foaled at Highcliff Farm[2] in Delanson – which is co-managed by O’Cain with his wife Suzie and served by him as resident veterinarian – Lady Candidate is the second winner produced by Caucus, a winning daughter of General Meeting ($65,851). Adger purchased the mare at the 2006 Texas Mixed sale for $8,500.

Adgar and O’Cain have bred two New York siblings to Lady Candidate, a 2-year-old filly by Stonesider named Spanish Sword, who has not yet started, and a yearling filly by Congaree. Both stallions stand at Highcliff. Caucus was bred back to Stonesider last year, with no reported foal to date.

 

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2012/06/30/lady-candidate-mariahs-storm/

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