Lady's Purse looks to add to bankroll

PORTLAND, Ore. - Lady's Purse will have only four challengers Sunday when she goes to post as the heavy favorite in the $16,600 OTBA Stallion Stakes for 3-year-olds at six furlongs.

Lady's Purse, a daughter of Bagshot from the barn of trainer G.D. Khalsa, is the only filly in the field. She has defeated male competition three times before, most recently in a six-furlong invitational handicap on Jan. 7, and she ran second to another filly, Jimbos Fire Ant, in the $42,000 Os West Oregon Futurity on Dec. 9. Lady's Purse has won 4 of her 7 career starts, and her career earnings total of $46,272 dwarfs the combined earnings of her four foes Sunday. Leading rider Joe Crispin will again have the mount at 115 pounds.

Delegocho looks to be the main threat to the filly, but he finished 1 1/4 lengths behind her when third in the Os West Oregon Futurity. Before that race, he placed in a pair of sprint stakes and won a maiden special weight affair by nearly eight lengths over Byers' Hope, who also will contest the sales stakes.

Delegocho, a son of Ochoco trained by Cookie Root, has not raced since his Futurity try more than six weeks ago. However, he logged a best-of-21 half-mile workout in 49.80 seconds on Monday.

Byers' Hope could also pose a threat off his best effort. Though badly beaten by Delegocho on Dec. 3, the Vanessa Hunt-trained Byers' Hope came back on Dec. 16 to graduate by 11 lengths on the maiden special weight level.