HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Ce Ce caught Ollie’s Candy on the wire to win the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap by a head Saturday at Oaklawn Park. With the victory, her breeder and owner, Bo Hirsch, has won Oaklawn’s two major races with homebreds, both out of the dam Miss Houdini. In 2009, Hirsch won the Arkansas Derby with Miss Houdini’s son Papa Clem. :: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Ce Ce ($9.80) drew post 14 for the Apple Blossom. She broke well, and settled in fifth behind the leaders in the mile and a sixteenth race. Ollie’s Candy took the field through fractions of 22.20 seconds for the opening quarter, 45.51 for the half-mile, and 1:10.27 for six furlongs while hotly pursued by Cookie Dough, Come Dancing, and Serengeti Empress. Ollie’s Candy shook those rivals into the stretch, as Ce Ce advanced four wide on the final turn and into the lane and took after the leader. Ce Ce kept after Ollie's Candy through the stretch and caught her late, while covering the distance on a fast track in 1:43.14. Victor Espinoza was aboard Ce Ce for trainer Michael McCarthy, the men invading from Santa Anita, where racing has been suspended as part of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Jockeys have not been allowed on the backstretch at Santa Anita.  “Victor did a world-class job today,” McCarthy said in a post-race interview broadcast by Oaklawn. “It’s the first time he sat on a horse in I don’t know how long . . . three weeks.” Espinoza was race riding for the first time since late March. “I was very glad she was able to tuck in and get some position,” McCarthy said of the first turn. “They were rolling up front. She was sitting in the garden spot.”   Espinoza, who has ridden Ce Ce throughout her career, also was pleased with the trip Saturday. “It was great,” he told publicity at Oaklawn. “The idea was to break sharp. I thought if I could hit the turn four or five wide, then I’m in good shape. I knew if she was good enough, she’d win the race, so I encouraged her out of the gate and put her in a good position. “Down the backside I had to put her in the race because I didn’t want the speed to get away from me. At the three-eighths, I put her behind the speed and just waited. Turning for home, I was just loaded. It’s always fun to ride horses like Ce Ce. She’s an amazing filly.” Ce Ce was winning her second straight Grade 1 race following the Beholder Mile on March 14 at Santa Anita. She’s won her last three starts, all since returning from a layoff in February. “The filly just keeps winning,” McCarthy said. “She was unlucky to get hurt early in the summer. She came back a bigger, stronger mare.” Ce Ce earned $360,000 for her victory Saturday. She has now won 4 of 6 career starts for earnings of $726,600. Ce Ce is a daughter of Elusive Quality. Papa Clem is by Smart Strike. Hirsch bred both Ce Ce and Papa Clem in Kentucky.  Espinoza won the Apple Blossom for the second time in his career, having captured the race in 2017 with Stellar Wind. Point of Honor finished third in the Apple Blossom, two and a quarter lengths behind Ollie’s Candy. The remaining order of finish was Street Band in fourth, followed by Saracosa, Horologist, Go Google Yourself, Lady Apple, Awe Emma, Queen Nekia, favorite Serengeti Empress, Come Dancing, Coldwater and Cookie Dough. Earlier on the card, Whitmore became the first horse to win three runnings of the Count Fleet.  Handle on the 11-race card from all sources Saturday was a record $19 million, eclipsing the track's all-time mark of $16.9 million reached on the Oaklawn Stakes Day program on April 11. Both cards were conducted spectator-free at Oaklawn.  Racing resumes Sunday at Oaklawn.