Coco Belle tries to end loss streak

ARCADIA, Calif. - Coco Belle, winless on synthetic tracks, will try to end a five-race losing streak in a $47,000 allowance race on Cushion Track at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Friday.

Coco Belle used remarkable speed to win two races and place third in a graded stakes at the 2006-07 winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita on a conventional dirt track.

Since being switched to synthetic surfaces, Coco Belle is winless in three races. Trainer John Sadler is hoping she handles Santa Anita's track better than the others.

"She's been compromised by the synthetic surfaces," Sadler said. "Her speed isn't quite as effective. She's run good races, but she's capable of more."

Training times have been quick over Santa Anita's new track, with the exception of last weekend after a rare September rainstorm. Sadler said would like the track to play fast.

"This track looks like it was quicker before the rain hit," Sadler said. "By Friday, I hope we'll have a quicker track."

Coco Belle, 3, has six rivals in the race, run over 6 1/2 furlongs, including Swiss Diva, the winner of the California Breeders' Champion Stakes here last December; Gothic Beauty, who won two claiming races at Del Mar over the summer; and Debie Ginsburg, who was third in the E.B. Johnston Stakes at Fairplex Park on Sept. 9.

Sekira, trained by Dan Hendricks, drew the rail. A winner of two races last fall, Sekira finished seventh in two races at Del Mar, including a troubled run in a five-furlong turf race on Aug. 16.

"She hopped in the air at the break and had to avoid a fallen horse," Hendricks said.

The poor start prevented Sekira from taking a position at the front of the field, a tactic that will be used on Friday, Hendricks said.

"She's got good speed, and she needs to run her race," he said.

* Friday's second race is an optional claimer over 1 1/8 miles on turf that has drawn a field of five. Red Fort, who placed in the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Handicap in 2005 and 2006 but was seventh in that race this past June, makes his first start for a claiming price. Trained by Neil Drysdale, Red Fort, 7, is eligible to be claimed for $80,000.