Si Puede, a Quarter Horse, will attempt to win her ninth consecutive race on Nov. 25, when she starts in the Grade 1, $332,869 Texas Classic Derby at Lone Star Park. Si Puede picked up her eighth straight win when she won a trial for the race Nov. 11.
During her streak, Si Puede has won five stakes, including the Grade 2, $111,400 Sam Houston Derby. The streak began on May 30, when she won an allowance at Remington Park. Trained by Dave Correll, the filly is 11 for 16 overall.
Heavenly Ransom not only made it a perfect 2 for 2 in her career when she won last Saturday's $40,000 Chandler Handicap, but the daughter of Red Ransom may well have stamped herself a comer for trainer Tom Bell II.
"We came here because there's no turf racing at Hollywood Park," said Bell, who is based in Southern California. "We have high hopes for this filly."
Heavenly Ransom won her debut at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet last month. She easily defeated a good group of 3-year-old fillies going 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf in the Chandler.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bull Ranch didn't waste much time establishing his credentials at Hastings, finishing second in the British Columbia Derby and then defeating older runners in the Premier's Handicap.
Now Bull Ranch will try his hand at a new venue when he faces seven rivals in Saturday's Grade 3, $164,400 Woodbine Slots Cup Handicap.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Apprentice jockey Josh Radosevich died following a horrific spill in Wednesday's third race at Beulah Park.
Radosevich, who began his riding career here last month, was aboard pacesetting Nyoka, who broke down entering the stretch of the 4 1/2-furlong race for $3,500 claimers. Radosevich, 16, landed hard on the muddy racing surface and appeared to be clipped in the head or neck by a trailing horse, Wild Dance.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Family Guy found what he needed last month at Turf Paradise in Phoenix - an easy spot. "We brought him over here for a little confidence builder," trainer Eric Kruljac said.
Family Guy responded Oct. 4, winning a first-condition allowance by eight lengths with an outstanding 101 Beyer. And he did it without blowing a condition.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The results of an arthroscopic procedure this week on Rock Hard Ten's left ankle will determine if he will race in 2006 or be retired to stud. A 4-year-old, Rock Hard Ten was expected to stay in training at age 5, but a precautionary nuclear scan revealed signs of potential trouble.
"We nuked him because we didn't want any surprises," said trainer Richard Mandella on Tuesday. "We found a little something in an ankle."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - "What have you done for me lately?" may be the central theme of Aqueduct's featured eighth race Thursday, a six-furlong allowance in which five sprinters return from layoffs ranging from five months to a year.
Several of the returnees - White Socks, Fortunate Storm, Interline, and Rum Point - have done their best running on the Big A's main track.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Dale Romans is an equal odds employer. Although his success and consistency in recent years have made the veteran trainer a perennial favorite among Churchill Downs horseplayers - thus depressing, in many instances, the odds on the horses he runs - Romans still wins with an occasional longshot.
ALBANY, Calif. - What Thursday's Golden Gate Fields card lacks in glamour, it makes up in good betting opportunities.
The two best races on the eight-race card are a maiden $25,000 claimer for 2-year-old fillies and a $16,000 claimer on the turf for 3-year-olds, but there is depth in all the day's races.
The maiden claimer seems perhaps the day's only race with a true standout in , who has shown improvement in each of her three starts.
CHICAGO - Chris Block has made his mark winning batches of maiden and allowance races, with consistent success at the stakes level. A claiming trainer he has not been. But Block hooked a good one when he claimed Precocious Kat for the Moabo Stables on Sept. 16 at Arlington. Taken for $25,000, Precocious Kat finished third in a second-level allowance race before clearing that condition by 11 lengths on Oct. 26 at Hawthorne, and she climbs the allowance ladder in the featured first race on Thursday at Hawthorne.
