Sweettrickydancer can five-peat

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Day and night.

Sweettrickydancer didn't show a thing when she began her racing career last summer at Calder. Competing on dirt, she was beaten almost 35 lengths in her first two appearances. Then trainer Rodolfo Garcia, cognizant of her pedigree favoring the turf, tried her in a grass race and got a rousing response.

Despite racing greenly and forced four wide in her rally, Sweettrickydancer, finishing strongly, got up to be second, beaten a half-length. When Garcia ran her back on the grass, three weeks later, she won her maiden and hasn't been beaten since.

Sweettrickydancer, who celebrated New Year's Day with a victory in the Tropical Park Oaks at Calder, goes into Saturday's $100,000 Herecomesthebride Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles off four consecutive victories on the turf. She showed improvement with every outing, and Garcia, noting that she has trained particularly well in recent weeks, expects another solid performance.

"Since she went to the grass she has done everything right," Garcia said. "This race could be a little tougher but she has benefited from her experience and I believe she will run well."

Sweettrickydancer usually comes from well off the pace. The Herecomesthebride has drawn a large field. Won't traffic be a problem for the Green Dancer filly?

Garcia thinks not, pointing to the large fields in each of her four victories. Eibar Coa, who rides her, said she has become increasingly comfortable in heavy traffic and speculates that her outside post position fits her style.

Sweettrickydancer, a homebred, is owned by Eduardo Rojas and Jorge Salas. Both men make their home in Venezuela, where they race and breed horses. Rojas purchased My Sweet Talker, the dam of Sweettrickydancer, at Keeneland in 1998 for $8,000. She was carrying Sweettrickydancer at the time and remained in Kentucky to drop her foal.

Trainer Garcia is also from Venezuela. He came to the United States in 1998, and has had a public stable in Florida ever since. He has dealt principally with claimers, and Sweettrickydancer is the best he has had.

If she reproduces her Calder form this weekend, he will consider grass opportunities for her in other areas.

Keep Sunshine Millions one-day deal

In the aftermath of last week's inaugural Sunshine Millions program, many suggestions were offered for future renewals. Some fine-tuning would appear to be in order but one recommendation that seems to miss the mark would have the Gulfstream and Santa Anita stakes on different days.

The same suggestion was made with the introduction of the Breeders' Cup, and was rejected because it would lessen the dramatic impact of the full program. The eight races of the Sunshine Millions gave the day a substance that helped to make it special and that element of the conditions should be retained.