Candy Eclair (USA)
April 14, 1976 – c. 1994
Northern Jove (CAN) x Candy’s Best (USA), by Candy Spots (USA)
Family 1-a
April 14, 1976 – c. 1994
Northern Jove (CAN) x Candy’s Best (USA), by Candy Spots (USA)
Family 1-a
Unbeaten as a juvenile, Candy Eclair was a free-running speedster who typically ran the legs off her field in the early going. Her tactics were enough to carry her a mile and a sixteenth in the Selima Stakes (USA-G1) at 2, a performance that earned her a share of the American juvenile filly crown, but after she tired badly over the same distance in the Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1), she was kept strictly to sprinting. Her Free Handicap rating of 122 pounds as a 3-year-old for a hypothetical race among 3-year-old fillies at 9 furlongs seems quite generous, given that she never showed signs of wanting such a distance at any tine during her career, and she was not rated that year in the sprint category. The following year, the Daily Racing Form placed her more appropriately by putting her at the top of its newly created female sprinter category. Candy Eclair was a much better racer than she was a broodmare.
Race record
23 starts, 15 wins, 4 seconds, 3 thirds, US$403,845
1978:
1979:
1980:
Honors
Assessments
Co-highweighted with It’s In the Air at 119 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1978, 1 pound above Terlingua.
Rated at 122 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1979, 4 pounds below champion Davona Dale.
Highweighted at 128 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American female sprinters of 1980, 3 pounds above second-rated Skipat.
As an individual
A lengthy gray mare with powerful hindquarters and a strong, straight hind leg, Candy Eclair was a free-wheeling front runner. She was away from the track for ten months following her second in the Miss Woodford Stakes on June 2, 1979, suggesting an injury.
As a producer
Candy Eclair produced six named foals, of which three started and won. Her only foal of any significance is Candy Native (by Mining), a gelding that won minor stakes races at 2 and 3.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Candy Eclair was bred and owned by philanthropist Adele Paxson (née Warden), widow of Henry D. Paxson. She was trained at first by S. Allen King Jr. and later by Mary Edens after the filly’s loss in the Bonnie Miss Stakes. A. S. “Tony” Black rode Candy Eclair throughout her championship season.
Pedigree notes
Sired by the stakes-winning Northern Dancer horse Northern Jove, Candy Eclair is inbred 4x4 to two-time English/Irish champion sire Nearco, an unbeaten champion on the race course; 5x5 to six-time English/Irish champion sire Hyperion, winner of the 1933 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes; and 5x5 to 1923 French champion sire Teddy, the French and Spanish champion 3-year-old male of 1916. She is a half sister to Forli Clover (by Forli), dam of stakes winner Foolish Clover (by Foolish Pleasure).
Candy Eclair was bred from Candy’s Best, a mare Mrs. Paxson bought for US$49,000 from the Leonard Firestone dispersal. A half sister to 1966 Beverly Handicap winner Short Fall (by Intent) and 1965 World’s Playground Stakes winner Low Son (by Sunglow), she is also a half sister to Flitter Flutter (by Cohoes), dam of multiple Group 1 winner Beldale Flutter (by Accipiter), second dam of Grade 3 winner Plaza Star, and third dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Career Collection.
Candy’s Best and her siblings are out of the Nasrullah mare Ellerslie, a half sister to multiple stakes winner The Pincher (by Heliopolis) and to Fleet Ailine (by Count Fleet), dam of stakes winners Purchaser (by Hurry to Market) and Jose Eduardo (by Drone). Produced from the Bull Dog mare Effie B., Ellerslie is also a half sister to Family Line (by Double Jay), dam of multiple stakes winner Family Way (by Cyane; dam of listed stakes winner Wheatly Way, by Wheatly Hall) and second dam of 1975 Top Flight Handicap (USA-G1) winner Twixt, and to Willow Wind (by Princequillo), second dam of Italian Group 2 winner Little Boy Blue.
Fun facts
Last updated: May 2, 2022
Race record
23 starts, 15 wins, 4 seconds, 3 thirds, US$403,845
1978:
- Won Selima Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Laurel)
- Won Mermaid Stakes (USA, 7FD, Atlantic City)
- Won Brigantine Stakes (USA, 6FD, Atlantic City)
1979:
- Won Ashland Stakes (USA-G2, 7FD, Keeneland)
- Won Shirley Jones Stakes (USA, 6FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 2nd Bonnie Miss Stakes (USA, 7FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 2nd Miss Woodford Stakes (USA, 6FD, Monmouth)
1980:
- Won Regret Handicap (USA, 6FD, Monmouth)
- Won Endine Handicap (USA, 6FD, Delaware Park)
- Won Grey Flight Handicap (USA, 6FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Boojum Handicap (USA, 6FD, Belmont)
- 2nd Imperatrice Handicap (USA, 7FD, Belmont)
- 3rd Petrify Handicap (USA, 6FD, Aqueduct)
Honors
- Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1979)
- Eclipse Award, American co-champion 2-year-old filly (1978)
Assessments
Co-highweighted with It’s In the Air at 119 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1978, 1 pound above Terlingua.
Rated at 122 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old fillies of 1979, 4 pounds below champion Davona Dale.
Highweighted at 128 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American female sprinters of 1980, 3 pounds above second-rated Skipat.
As an individual
A lengthy gray mare with powerful hindquarters and a strong, straight hind leg, Candy Eclair was a free-wheeling front runner. She was away from the track for ten months following her second in the Miss Woodford Stakes on June 2, 1979, suggesting an injury.
As a producer
Candy Eclair produced six named foals, of which three started and won. Her only foal of any significance is Candy Native (by Mining), a gelding that won minor stakes races at 2 and 3.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Candy Eclair was bred and owned by philanthropist Adele Paxson (née Warden), widow of Henry D. Paxson. She was trained at first by S. Allen King Jr. and later by Mary Edens after the filly’s loss in the Bonnie Miss Stakes. A. S. “Tony” Black rode Candy Eclair throughout her championship season.
Pedigree notes
Sired by the stakes-winning Northern Dancer horse Northern Jove, Candy Eclair is inbred 4x4 to two-time English/Irish champion sire Nearco, an unbeaten champion on the race course; 5x5 to six-time English/Irish champion sire Hyperion, winner of the 1933 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes; and 5x5 to 1923 French champion sire Teddy, the French and Spanish champion 3-year-old male of 1916. She is a half sister to Forli Clover (by Forli), dam of stakes winner Foolish Clover (by Foolish Pleasure).
Candy Eclair was bred from Candy’s Best, a mare Mrs. Paxson bought for US$49,000 from the Leonard Firestone dispersal. A half sister to 1966 Beverly Handicap winner Short Fall (by Intent) and 1965 World’s Playground Stakes winner Low Son (by Sunglow), she is also a half sister to Flitter Flutter (by Cohoes), dam of multiple Group 1 winner Beldale Flutter (by Accipiter), second dam of Grade 3 winner Plaza Star, and third dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Career Collection.
Candy’s Best and her siblings are out of the Nasrullah mare Ellerslie, a half sister to multiple stakes winner The Pincher (by Heliopolis) and to Fleet Ailine (by Count Fleet), dam of stakes winners Purchaser (by Hurry to Market) and Jose Eduardo (by Drone). Produced from the Bull Dog mare Effie B., Ellerslie is also a half sister to Family Line (by Double Jay), dam of multiple stakes winner Family Way (by Cyane; dam of listed stakes winner Wheatly Way, by Wheatly Hall) and second dam of 1975 Top Flight Handicap (USA-G1) winner Twixt, and to Willow Wind (by Princequillo), second dam of Italian Group 2 winner Little Boy Blue.
Fun facts
- Candy Eclair was so impressive in her first six starts that her seventh, the Bonnie Miss Stakes, was run as a betless exhibition. Ironically, it was the filly’s first loss as she went under to the improving Davona Dale by three-quarters of a length.
- After Candy Eclair and It’s in the Air tied in the voting for American champion 2-year-old filly honors in 1978, and J. O. Tobin and Dr. Patches tied in the sprint division that same year, the Eclipse Awards rules were changed to prevent future ties.
- Candy Eclair’s prowess helped Mrs. Paxon earn an Eclipse Award as America’s leading Thoroughbred breeder in 1980.
- Candy Eclair became the namesake for a stakes race at Monmouth Park.
Last updated: May 2, 2022