The veteran trainer is in the middle of the toughest run of results in his stellar 50-year career, with no winners since last November.
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Niarbyl Bay got up in the final stride to win by a nose at Wolverhampton 229 days ago, but it’s been nothing but heartache for the yard in 2024.
Classic winner Candy, 79, isn’t the kind of bloke to let a run of poor form get him down, but he will be at his wits end if his luck doesn’t change soon.
He told Sunracing: “They’ve been running well and we’ve had a few go close, but they aren’t winning and it’s honestly very boring!
“I’ve been around long enough to know that things will eventually turn in our favour, it’s just a matter of time and we will keep plodding on doing the same things we’ve always done.
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“But for sure, it is incredibly frustrating, for me and the staff who work hard. We need to get the monkey off our back and I’m sure the winners will flow.”
He could end his barren run in style on Saturday, with classy sprinter Twilight Calls a well-fancied 7-2 shot for the Group 3 Coral Charge at Sandown.
In keeping with his stablemates, he has run well in defeat this season but not been able to get his head in front when it matters.
He was a solid sixth in a Group 1 at Royal Ascot last month, however, and mister reliable Ryan Moore is in the saddle once again.
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Candy said: “I’m very pleased with the horse, he seems a lot livelier at the moment than he did earlier in the season.
“He got left at the start in the Palace House first time out this year and then ran on strongly, not beaten far in fourth.
“And I don’t think he quite got home in the King Charles at Ascot, which was strongly run, but he ran a super race.
“This is more his level and we’ve got the right man in the saddle in Ryan Moore to get us over the line.
“It will be a huge relief once we get that first win of the year, then we can all move on!”
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