In Secure keeps perfect mark

CHICAGO - The Great Lakes horse was no pushover. A 44-1 shot, Nicole's Dream had set a fast pace, but she dug in for the stretch run. In Secure was unbeaten in two previous starts and 6-5, but now odds meant nothing. In Secure had to reach deep for the first time, but she found enough, wearing down Nicole's Dream by a neck to win the $75,000 Real Delight Saturday at Arlington.

It was the first stakes win for In Secure, a daughter of the champion A.P. Indy and the stakes horse Morelia, bred, co-owned, and trained by Louie Roussel, who was married Friday. Up in Chicago, Roussel's assistant Lara Van Deren has been working hard in the morning to teach In Secure to relax, and the work has paid off.

In Secure had won the first two starts of her career on raw talent, racing without fully knowing what she was doing. Saturday, she really had to run. Nicole's Dream didn't look like much on paper, but she set sail on the lead through a quarter-mile run in 22.43 seconds and a half-mile in 45.82. She didn't slow much. In Secure stalked in second, fighting to keep up and fighting a drying-out racetrack.

Van Deren said jockey E.T. Baird reported In Secure didn't like the track.

But, In Secure did catch Nicole's Dream in the final eighth of a mile. In Secure paid $4.40 to win and ran six furlongs in 1:11.13.