Selita's Dream tries to keep her roll going

EDMONTON, Alberta - Selita's Dream could have been claimed for $10,000 in the seventh race at Stampede Park on April 28.

Monday afternoon here at Northlands Park, Selita's Dream will go forward as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in a $40,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares, the feature race on the holiday card.

In 2006, as a plucky low-level claimer, Selita's Dream fashioned a respectable record of 4 wins, 1 second, and 3 thirds in 11 starts.

Through five starts in 2007, the 6-year-old Kentucky-bred has notched two wins and recently exited the $69,000 Duchess of York with a third-place finish behind the unstoppable She's Italian.

Moreover, Selita's Dream record her best lifetime Beyer this season, a 73, and has almost doubled her career earnings to $76,000.

In Monday's one-mile race, jockey Ricky Walcott will look to extend Selita's Dream's reversal of fortune for trainer Barry Brown.

While the Duchess of York marked the arrival of Selita's Dream, the race was an ugly blemish on the record of Banjo Babe, who finished eighth.

A 6-year-old trained by Don Gilkyson, Banjo Babe had previously shown good mettle among the top ranks of the filly-and-mare division. She took the rich Alberta Fall Classic Distaff in her final start of 2006 and put together a pair of thirds in the Ken Pearson and M.R. Jenkins memorials at Stampede Park this spring.