by Greg Gangle, WEG media

Toronto, ON — When Friday night’s (Feb. 18) C$60,000 HorsePlayer Interactive Stakes final goes to post at Woodbine, all eyes will be on the Michigan invader Didrickson, as she looks to extend her winning streak to six for trainer Kelly Goodwin.

The 5-year-old daughter of Keystone Raider hasn’t been defeated since Dec. 17 and Goodwin hopes that streak continues.

New Image Media photo

Didrickson has won each of her five starts in 2011, while cashing $36,360 in checks.

“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 favorite in Friday 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 any one 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 UTR. He would be delighted to see an off-the-pace trip from driver Randy Waples Friday night.

“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 $107,650, Didrickson will be looking to add the lion’s share of C$60,000 to her bankroll Friday night.