'Contact' clear-cut Sun choice

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Make Contact figures to be a short price over six other fillies and mares in Saturday's $35,000 Sun Handicap at Hastings Park. None of the horses entered in the nine-furlong Sun have ever won at the distance, but Make Contact's second-place finishes in last year's B.C. Oaks and Ballerina indicate that she shouldn't have too much trouble handling this field.

Make Contact dominated her first two sprints at Hastings this year. She was an easy winner of a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race April 21, then cruised to a 2 1/4-length victory over Grooms Derby in the Strawberry Morn Stakes on May 12. She was bet down to 4-5 in the 1 1/16-mile Brighouse Belles on June 16 but she didn't break that sharply and had to be steadied slightly going into the first turn. That allowed Grooms Derby to run uncontested on the lead and waltz home a

2 3/4-length winner over Fabulous Flight.

Grooms Derby's connections have opted to run in the Boeing Handicap at Emerald Downs on Sunday, which leaves Make Contact a solid favorite to win her second stakes race at the meet. She will be ridden by David Wilson.

Fabulous Flight, Pretzel Logic, and Always a Dixie look like the ones who will be battling for second money. Fabulous Flight finished in front of Make Contact in the Brighouse Belles; Pretzel Logic is a half-sister to the 1 1/8-mile track record holder, Artic Son, and ran a big race to finish second to Always a Dixie in an allowance race July 2. Always a Dixie is coming off of her first win at a middle distance.