Hawkish choice in Ed Burke

Hawkish will be favored in the Grade 1, $400,000 Ed Burke Futurity to take the second step toward becoming the first horse to win the $1 million Los Alamitos Bonanza on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

Hawkish won the Grade 1 Kindergarten on May 17, and if he can win the Ed Burke Futurity and the Los Alamitos Million on Dec. 12 he will earn the $1 million bonus.

Hawkish, trained by Concepcion Balderrama, has been sensational, setting a Los Alamitos 300-yard track record of 15.180 seconds in winning the Kindergarten, and then winning his Ed Burke trial by three lengths while under a hold by jockey Alex Bautista. His time of 17.500 seconds for the 350 yards was the fastest in the six Ed Burke trials held on July 12.

Kindergarten fifth-place finisher Ocean Cartel will take another shot at Hawkish after winning his Ed Burke trial by one length with the second-fastest time of 17.590 seconds.

Co-world champ undergoes surgery

Streakin Sin Tacha, who co-won the 2002 world champion title with Whosleavingwho, had surgery in Elgin, Texas, on Monday to remove a chip in his left knee and came out of the surgery in good order, according to owner-trainer Janet VanBebber.

"He took a bad step in his last race [the MBNA Texas Challenge Championship on July 12]," said VanBebber. "I knew something was wrong."