LOS ALAMITOS : Dicey Secret Challenging Ah Sigh

With her victory in the $95,500 Governor’s Cup Derby last Friday night, Dicey Secret has stepped up to challenge Ah Sigh for the title of top 3-year-old filly.

Dicey Secret, by Raise A Secret, has been one of the most consistent runners at Los Alamitos this season with six wins in seven starts. She has lost only to Ah Sigh in the Los Alamitos Derby. In 15 lifetime starts, Dicey Secret has never finished worse than third.

Trained by Danny Mitchell, Dicey Secret has earned a reputation as a tough horse in stakes trials, where she is seven for seven. But despite having qualified for several major futurities as a 2-year-old, Dicey Secret’s first stakes victory eluded her until this year, when she won the California Sires Cup Derby.

“She does so well in the trials, and then we’ve been so disappointed in the finals,” said Dicey Secret’s owner, Cathy Monji.

Dicey Secret seemed to be at the top of her game in the trials for the Los Alamitos Derby, defeating Ah Sigh by a nose. But bad luck in the final destroyed any chance Dicey Secret had of winning that race. She broke slow and bumped Blushing By at the start, finishing third.

Ridden by Joe Badilla Jr., Dicey Secret made amends in the trials for the Governor’s Cup Derby, winning in her division by three-quarters of a length. Ah Sigh suffered another loss in the trials, this time to fastest qualifier Duardo.

Then when Lejerito was scratched from the Governor’s Cup Derby, Dicey Secret started from the inside post position. She broke fast and took immediate command. Midway through the 400-yard event, Dicey Secret was ahead by a length, and she crossed the finish line 1 1/4 lengths ahead of longshot runner-up Coast Express.

Coast Express, at 47-1, finished ahead of another longshot, Tylerette at 45-1. Ah Sigh, who was acting up before the race, finished off the board for the first time in her career, running eighth.

“She’s just getting better,” trainer Mitchell said of Dicey Secret. ‘She’s a good filly. She’s happy and she likes to run. I wouldn’t trade her for any of them.”

According to Mitchell, Dicey Secret will race next in the PCQHRA Breeders’ Derby, a race for which Ah Sigh is not eligible. After that, Dicey Secret will run in the trials for the Champion of Champions, hoping to earn a berth in the most prestigious race of the year.

A good showing over the rest of the season would make Dicey Secret a strong contender for champion 3-year-old filly.

“Deep down inside, you always hope for all of these things,” Monji said.

Los Alamitos Notes

Two-time world champion Refrigerator won a $10,000 allowance race last Saturday night for trainer Blane Schvaneveldt. It was Refrigerator’s first victory since he won his third Champion of Champions race last December. The 7-year-old gelding covered the 350 yards in 17.51 seconds. . . .

Remington Park Championship winner Higher Goals, who has already earned an invitation to the Champion of Champions, will make her first start at Los Alamitos for trainer Chuck Treece in the $60,000 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap. Fourteen horses are nominated for the Grade I event, among them champion Sound Dash and world champion Down With Debt.