Power Squeeze Runs Down Candied to Win Alabama (2024)

With Thorpedo Anna opting for the Travers Stakes (G1) instead of the $600,000 Alabama Stakes (G1), the stage was set for morning-line and post-time betting favorite Candied to earn her second grade 1 win, and at the eighth pole, it looked like the bay filly was going to head to the winner's circle at Saratoga Race Course for the first time since breaking her maiden there last August.

But Power Squeeze didn't get that memo, and though she trailed Candied for most of the Alabama's 1 1/4 miles, she was ahead when it mattered, getting the head bob at the wire.

Power Squeeze and Javier Castellano followed Candied and Manny Franco up the backstretch, both well behind the pacesetting Chatalas. Both fillies were well off the rail, Candied a length or so ahead when Franco asked her to go heading into the far turn.

Castellano gave Power Squeeze her cue, too, and both fillies circled the field, running wide as they came into the stretch. After getting bumped by Miss Justify, who had been knocked by Chatalasto her inside, Candied regained her balance and momentum just as Power Squeeze took aim on her, joining her inside the sixteenth pole for a neck-and-neck run to the wire.

Lea Farms' Power Squeeze now has won six of her last eight starts, including the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).Her only defeats in that span camewhen she finished a well-beaten sixth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) behind Thorpedo Anna and then third behindthatdivision leader in the Acorn Stakes (G1).

"She's a fighter, and I liked the way she did it today," said winning rider Javier Castellano. "She's a very grounded horse. I knew it was a hot pace."

It was the second straight close finish for Power Squeeze, who won the Delaware Oaks (G3) by a nose July 8.

"That last race almost gave me a coronary," said Jimmy Gruttadaurio, racing manager for owner Lea Farms. "So did this one. We needed that head bob."

"I never felt like a winner until the wire," said trainer Jorge Delgado. "That was an absolutely outstanding ride from Javier. He measured the race perfectly."

Candied finished second, with Just Basking a length back in third. Miss Justify, Intricate, Chatalas, Neon Icon, and America's Vow completed the order of finish. Sent off at odds of $6.40-1, Power Squeeze paid $14.80 to win, runningthe mile and a quarter in 2:04.35.

Bred by Forging Oaks Farm in Kentucky, Power Squeeze sold for $50,000 to Monarch Farms, purchased from the Eaton Sales consignment at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Six months later, Lea Farms bought theUnion Rags filly for $90,000 out of Halcyon Hammock Farm's consignment at the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.

"I loved the way she galloped out (at OBS)," said Delgado, who recommended the purchase to Lea Farms' principals Paula and Charles Cosgrove. "She caught my attention when I saw her galloping out. She was coming at that price with the budget that we had, and she definitely caught my eye."

Power Squeeze is out of the Florida-bred multiple stakes winner Callmethesqueeze (Awesome Again), who earned $324,499 racing mostly at Calder Race Course, and is a half sister to the stakes-winning Call On Mischief (Into Mischief).

The 2012 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, Union Rags (Dixie Union) stands for $15,000 at Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Ky. Power Squeeze is his sixth grade 1 winner and is poised to join Express Train and Paradise Woods as his millionaire offspring, having earned $897,450.

The win is the first grade 1 for Lea Farms.

"We owe this success to Lea Farms ownership, Paula and Charles Cosgrove," said Gruttadaurio. "They trust Jorge and myself when we go to an auction and make acquisitions, and having someone trust you makes it that much easier when you're making a purchase."

The Alabama is also Delgado's first grade 1 win, a distinction he came close to earning in last year's H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1). Instead, elationturned to horror when New York Thunder suffered a fatal injury near the sixteenth pole while leading by five lengths.

"I couldn't stop thinking about it when I got here," said the trainer. "A similar scenario, with a big crowd, I dreamed my whole life to win a grade 1 here at Saratoga. What happened was heartbreaking, and to come here (a year later)and win a grade 1—I have no words."

Despite having been beaten twice by Thorpedo Anna, the filly that ended Power Squeeze's four-race winning streak, Delgado has no qualms about facing the divisional leader this fall, with his eye on the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx RacingSept. 21.

"The owner is a man of challenge—I am, too," said the trainer. "We like to gamble and sometimes that's a problem, but we like to gamble. You only have these kinds of chances so many times in your training career. We faced her twice, we lost twice ... but I feel like if it is the right surface and right distance for us, we might have a shot."