It is well known that when you send your stock to Woodbine Racetrack your chances improve exponentially if your charge has good gate speed. That being said, trainer Kelly Goodwin knows that his charge has a good shot at hitting a big payday Friday, February 18 at the suburban Toronto raceway.
When the $60,000 final of the HorsePlayer Interactive Stakes goes to post, all eyes will be on the Michigan invader Didrickson, as she looks to extend her winning streak to six for Goodwin.
The five-year-old daughter of Keystone Raider hasn’t been defeated since December 17 and Goodwin hopes that streak continues.
“She seems to be getting better and better every start and that’s hard to believe because she has over 40 lifetime starts,” Goodwin commented. “She’s also very green on the front-end, last week I was worried when I [saw] the half in (:) 57 because I thought we were too far back.”
Didrickson is a homebred for Goodwin who trained and drove her mother, Strikadeeze, to $205,080 in career earnings.
“They do have some similarities (Strikadeeze and Didrickson), but the biggest difference between them is their gate speed,” he noted. “Strikadeeze had absolutely no gate speed which really hurt her on the racetrack because of the half-mile track ovals that take place here in Michigan.”
Didrickson has been installed as the 3-1 morning line favourite in tomorrow night’s fifth race, but Goodwin believes that anyone can win the contest.
“I know she’s picked to win and has won five in a row, but it’s a solid group of horses that she is competing against and anyone of them can jump up and win. The horses she faces at Woodbine are much more competitive than she has ever faced.”
Goodwin has had a tremendous start to 2011 with a record of 8-5-1 from 16 starts with a .694 UDR.
Goodwin would be delighted to see an off-the-pace trip from driver Randy Waples on Friday.
“She really seems to like tracking horses down. I was pleased to see Randy (Waples) elect to drive her so we’ll see what happens. I trained her lightly yesterday and she seems to be on her game.”
With career earnings of $107,971, Didrickson will be looking to add the lion’s share of $60,000 to her bankroll.
To view entries for Thursday's card of harness racing, please click the following link:
(With files from WEG)