LOS AL RACING THIS WEEKEND

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Tom McEwen has a pair of fillies in the Belmont Shore.
Photos by Scott Martinez


Mongoose Hawkette Heads Saturday's Belmont Shore



LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA—SEPTEMBER 28, 2007—Tom McEwen's Mongoose Hawkette, who has been outstanding each time she's competed at 350 yards, will headline a solid group of distaffers in Saturday's $18,000 Belmont Shore Handicap at Los Alamitos. Mongoose Hawkette will surely love the distance for the Belmont Shore, as it is at her preferred 350 yards.
"I hope she loves the distance," said Dennis Givens. "I hope if she loves something about this race. If she doesn't love it then I hope her stablemate, Mongoose Separatist, who is also in this race will love it."

Givens has had an unusually quiet meeting in 2007. The trainer's lone Quarter Horse victory of the season came courtesy of the Hawkinson filly on September 9.

"They've beat me up pretty good this year but that's how things go sometimes," he said. "I've had some wins with Thoroughbreds but I've been unlucky with the Quarter Horses. Maybe I'll start enjoying some more wins throughout the rest of the year. I tell you what I'd rather enjoy them all early in the meeting, just so I can get them out of the way," he added with a smile.

Mongoose Hawkette defeated Rousing Encore by a half-length in the aforementioned allowance test. Givens felt that luck was on his side on that night.

"Let's be honest, she got lucky to win that race," he said. "(Rousing Encore) didn't leave like she could have and that helped us tremendously. If that horse had left she would have had us. I guess it was our turn in the barrel. That was Hawkette's night."

Givens hopes that Saturday night belongs to one of the Mongoose fillies. Mongoose Hawkette will be ridden by Ramon Sanchez from post nine, while Eulices Gomez from will ride McEwen's Mongoose Separatist, a Separatist filly, post six.

"I hope they both run well," Givens said. "I think the gray (Mongoose Separatist) can be faster than Mongoose Hawkette. After the 300-yard mark, that's when she runs big but sometimes she's her own worst enemy leaving the gate."

Tinys Lil Sis, Gottobes Cat, Lindas Dasher, and Kipas Flit are all among the horses that will likely give the Mongooses a battle.

Randy Treadaway's Okey Dokey Dale filly, Tinys Lil Sis ran fourth in last year's Grade 1 Southern California Derby and is always capable of a big late run.

Gottobes Cat, a Devon Lane-TB filly, finished second and ahead of Tinys Lil Sis on August 23 and she appears to be hitting her peak right now. Kipas Flit is, a Count Corona filly, is fresh off a victory over Tinys Lil Sis on August 5.

Lindas Dasher, who ran in the Champion of Champions last year, is on an 11-race winless streak, but she's been facing the likes of Wave Carver, Apollitical Time, Blazin Fire, Be A Bono, and most recently faced Hold Me Now in the California Breeders Matron Stakes on July 28. If she runs her race, she could blow this field away.

Bench Mark Dove, Caring, and A Mere Fame, who has won back-to-back races, will complete the field.
Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com

BENCH MARK DOVE is one of the horses in this race who could really be a surprise!!!