PACIFIC CLASSIC NOTEBOOK: DEL MAR HEARS SIREN LURE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Staff Writer

DEL MAR -- Siren Lure continued to rise in the sprinters' division, winning the $300,000 Pat O'Brien Handicap by 2 1/4 lengths at Del Mar on Sunday as Pure as Gold found the seventh furlong to be too much and Declan's Moon finished a shocking last.

Siren Lure ($7.60) came in with five wins in his previous six races, the latest in the 7-furlong Triple Bend at Hollywood Park, and Pure as Gold with four wins in his previous six, the latest in the 6-furlong Bing Crosby at Del Mar. How far they ran proved more important than where, Siren Lure and jockey Alex Solis catching front-runner Pure as Gold and Jon Court in the final 100 yards of the 7-furlong O'Brien.

Trained by Art Sherman, Siren Lure, a 5-year-old gelding, has the same impressive record on dirt and turf: 6 for 10.

Declan's Moon, the 2004 2-year-old champion, finished last in the seven- horse race as a 3-2 favorite, his second defeat after a 5-for-5 start.

Nightmare start: Pacific Classic day began, perhaps inevitably, with a horse breaking down and having to be euthanized on the turf course.

Yessiremychickadee was leading the first race going into the backstretch when she suffered a compound fracture of her right front cannon bone, according to a Del Mar spokesman, and was pulled up by jockey Aaron Gryder.

The 3-year-old gray filly, twice a winner for trainer Tim Yakteen, became the 14th horse fatally injured, the ninth in competition and the third on the grass, at the month-old Del Mar meet.