Lindas Dasher faces Chicks Like Us

Two-time Grade 1 futurity runner-up Lindas Dasher will be challenged by fastest qualifier Chicks Like Us in the Grade 1, $301,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.

The weekend of major races sponsored by the PCQHRA starts Friday night with Babe on the Fly and Well I Never in the Grade 2, $144,000 PCQHRA Derby.

Lindas Dasher is after her first stakes win, following second-place finishes in the Grade 1 Governor's Cup Futurity and the Grade 1 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity. She is in peak form for the PCQHRA Futurity after rolling to a 1 1/4-length trial victory in 17.595 seconds for the 350 yards, the third-fastest time in six trials on Sept. 17.

Chicks Like Us earned his top-qualifier designation when he won his trial by a neck in 17.53 seconds. In his previous start, he won his All American Futurity trial at Ruidoso Downs over Ruidoso Futurity third-place finisher First Down Runner.

In the Breeders Derby, Babe on the Fly is riding a three-race winning streak, capped by a neck win in the first of two derby trials contested on Sept. 18. She won by a head in 19.755 seconds for the 400 yards, defeating second-fastest qualifier Long Stemmed Roses.

Babe on the Fly was second to champion Hawkish in the 2003 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity and second in last year's Grade 1 Golden State Futurity, a head behind the undefeated Be a Bono.

In the second PCQHRA Derby trial, Well I Never held off Hawkish by a neck. Both horses qualified for the finals. Well I Never set the Los Alamitos 300-yard track record of 15.13 seconds on Aug. 29, then carried his quickness another 100 yards when he won his PCQHRA Derby trial in 19.835 seconds.

AB What a Runner sidelined

Two-time champion AB What a Runner will be sidelined for at least two months and her career could be over because of a cut above her left front hoof suffered in the Mildred Vessels Invitational Handicap on Saturday at Los Alamitos. AB What a Runner finished 10th in the Grade 1, $110,000 Vessels.

"We are confident that the cut will heal up perfectly," trainer Brett Vickery said. "If it does not heal up great, then we might not run her again. Her overall well-being is more important to us.

AB What a Runner, an earner of $1,342,389, was the champion 2-year-old filly in 2002, when she won the All American Futurity. Last year, she was named the champion 3-year-old filly after winning the Mildred Vessels and the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Derby.

Woodlands hosts futurity and derby

Corona on Tap will be favored to gain his third win from four starts in the Grade 2, $114,000 Kansas Futurity at The Woodlands on Sunday afternoon. Corona on Tap is in top form, romping to a three-length trial victory with the fastest qualifying time of 17.82 seconds for 350 yards on Sept. 21. Also on Sunday, Lett Her Zoom goes for a futurity-derby double when she starts in the Grade 3, $41,000 Kansas Derby. Last year, she won the Kansas Futurity and was second in the $1 million Texas Classic Futurity.