Hardcore Candy was a beautiful mare. And she was stakes-placed and looked like a bargain—and she was.
BH: In looking at Hardcore Candy’s produce record, she’s had four fillies since Dorth Vader. She’s recently produced two full sibling sisters to Dorth Vader. What are your plans for the Girvin yearling and weanling?
JR: It took (Hardcore Candy) a while, but everything coming out after Dorth Vader has been just beautiful. I have a full sister to Dorth going to the September yearling sale that is gorgeous. (Hardcore Candy) had another weanling filly to Girvin this year that we will keep.
BH: Why did you ultimately decide to keep Dorth Vader and put her in race training?
JR: Dorth was not correct as a baby, so we weren’t going to be able to sell her at a yearling sale. I sent her to a trainer, Gayle Woods, in Ocala, to develop her for me as a yearling. Once she was under saddle, Gayle said to me, ‘Boy, this horse can run, you’d do well to take her to the track.’
Bloodhorse – Molly Rollins – Dorth Vader Gives Ropes Long-Awaited Grade 1 Win
The story of how Dorth Vader’s name came to be remains a light-hearted point of contention for the couple.
Ropes explains that Harden had been asking him to name a horse for her for years, but he didn’t want to name a horse “Dorothy.” He and his farm manager decided to shorten it to “Dorth,” and since Harden is a Star Wars fan, the name Dorth Vader was born.
Harden vividly remembers the day Ropes told her about the name.
“He came home and said, ‘I named a horse for you,’” she recalled. “I was thinking, maybe ‘Dashing Dorothy,’ or ‘Daring Dorothy.’ Nope. Dorth Vader. My mouth dropped, and I’m like, ‘You think I’m an intergalactic villain?’
“He found it so funny.
One of Phil’s favourite name horses: Dorth Vader, the John Ropes Florida homebred had the Force with her in the Saratoga slop in the GI Ogden Phipps Stake Presented by Ford for $500,000 going 1 1/8 miles on the sloppy dirt on Friday.
Dorth Vader is by Girvin (Tale of Ekati) out of the Yonaguska mare Hardcore Candy who was campaigned in Alberta by Darrell Landry and then Amber Buniak and Ryan McLean. Hardcore Candy won 8 races from 40 starts with 8 seconds and 4 thirds, earning $101,308. She was Stakes placed in the Freedom of the City Stakes (Black Type) at Northlands Park.
Trained by George Weaver for owner/breeder John Ropes, Dorth Vader landed her first win since taking the 2023 Davona Dale Stakes (G2) as a 3-year-old. The now 5-year-old mare made it worth the wait, earning an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar with her victory in the Ogden Phipps, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In event.
Bloodhorse – Karen M. Johnson – Dorth Vader Springs the Upset in Ogden Phipps
Dorth Vader is out of the winning Yonaguska mare Hardcore Candy, who Ropes purchased under the name Rose Grove Farm for $23,000 at the 2014 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. Fall Mixed Sale.
Q: How does Darth Vader manage to eat through that mask?
A: He’s force fed.
Phil M. Stockmen
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.