Jockey Chris McCarron will attempt to win the $100,000 Hawthorne Handicap (gr. III) for a sixth consecutive renewal on Saturday at Hollywood Park. McCarron will guide co-favored Ask Me No Secrets in the 1 1/16-mile main track feature for fillies and mares.
McCarron notched his fifth straight win in the race last year when he guided Printemps to victory to equal Don Pierce's Hollywood Park record for consecutive wins in a stakes race. Pierce won the Los Angeles Handicap from 1969-73.
"I called Pierce that night and kidded him about it," said McCarron.
McCarron's Hawthorne streak began in 1997. In 1996, he finished second in the Hawthorne aboard Jewel Princess.
The David Hofmans-trained Ask Me No Secrets has won three of five career starts, including last month's Oaklawn Breeders' Cup Stakes (gr. III) when ridden by Mike Smith. One start prior to the Oaklawn race, Ask Me No Secrets finished third under McCarron in the La Canada Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita.
Ask Me No Secrets is a 4-year-old daughter of Seattle Slew and a half-brother of Royal Tryst, who placed in all three rounds of this year's Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Challenge at Nad Al Sheba. Her second dam, In My Cap, produced Marie J and Bright Feather, the latter the dam of Jockey Club Gold Cup (gr. I) winner Albert the Great and Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II) runner-up Crimson Hero.
The field for the Hawthorne will consist of:
1--Ask Me No Secrets, Chris McCarron, 119
2--Queen of Wilshire, Patrick Valenzuela, 115
3--De Goddaughter, Victor Espinoza, 113
4--Alexine, Gary Stevens, 119
5--L'Emeraude, Jose Valdivia Jr., 112
6--Verruma, Garrett Gomez, 116
7--Stormy Society, Alex Solis, 112
