'Allswell' needs quick pace

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Since last summer, Allswellthatnswell has undergone a career transformation. Once a front-runner, Allswellthat-nswell is now a closer, a style that led to runner-up finishes in two stakes at Golden Gate Fields this spring.

Friday, she tries for her first stakes win in more than two years in the $60,000 restricted Tuzla Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park.

"We have taught her to come from behind and not be an all-speed filly," trainer Don Warren said. "We'll try it again. Hopefully, the speed will set it up for her."

Owned by Bud and Judy Johnston, has finished second behind Vaca City Flyer in her last two starts, both at Golden Gate Fields - the Mount Tam Stakes at six furlongs on a sloppy track in March and the Rockridge Stakes at five furlongs on turf on April 23. Vaca City Flyer broke a 31-year-old course record in the Rockridge, timed in 55.25 seconds.

Warren's hope for a quick pace Friday could be fulfilled by , who has remarkable speed. Trained by Roger Stein, Starkay won the restricted Exotic Wood Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park last June, and was sixth in her first two starts this year - the Wishing Well and Las Cienegas handicaps.

Starkay likely will be tracked by Sandra's Rose and Fortunately. Sandra's Rose was third in the Las Cienegas Handicap, a loss that ended a two-race winning streak in allowance races on the hillside turf course.

Fortunately won the five-furlong Daisycutter Handicap on turf last summer at Del Mar and two sprint stakes at Turf Paradise this year. She was fifth in the Rockridge, a loss that puzzled trainer Tim Yakteen.

"She got outrun, had no excuses," he said.

Yakteen is worried that the Tuzla distance of 5 1/2 furlongs may be too far for Fortunately, a stalker with a tendency to jump into her races with a burst of speed but not always sustain the rally.

"For her, probably the shorter, the better," he said.

The Tuzla marks the return of after an absence of more than a year. Trained by Richard Mandella, Polyfirst won two allowance races on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in early 2005. She placed in five stakes in France in 2004.

Danclare ran fourth in the Las Cienegas, but is winless in her last 10 outs.