Challenging pick six on tap

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The pick six at Hollywood Park on Wednesday features a carryover of $174,449 and a few races that may puzzle bettors.

Ask Not figures to be a strong favorite to win her fourth consecutive race in the fifth race, but there are three sprints for maiden claimers and an allowance race on turf that will force bettors to make tough decisions.

The pick six starts with the third race.

The first leg is a six-furlong race for maiden claimers, featuring nine runners. There is no standout, but Flying Pilot, a first-time starter, and Fourth and Long, who starts from the outside, will be well backed.

The fifth race is a maiden race for California-breds at 1 1/16 miles on turf. There will be plenty of support for Warm Welcome, a troubled fifth in a sprint May 17 in his debut; and Target Shoot, who finished sixth against a similar field at Santa Anita in April.

Ask Not has five opponents in the fifth race, run at six furlongs. She has won a $20,000 claiming race and two allowance races at this meet. The field features Pocketfullofpesos, who won the California Breeders' Champion Stakes last December at Santa Anita.

The sixth race is for female maiden claimers at 5 1/2 furlongs. In an open race, Miss Buona Sera, unraced since finishing eighth at Del Mar last August, faces nine others. Miss Buona Sera raced for $62,500 last year, but drops to the $25,000 level.

There are only six starters in the seventh race, a $58,000 allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf. A case can be made for all of the starters. Arabic Song, Fun House, and Notting Hill have won or placed in stakes races. Adalgisa, Rhythm of Life, and Runaway Pro have run races that make them contenders.

Adalgisa won three of her first four starts in the United States last fall, but is winless in her last three races. Trained by Julio Canani, Adalgisa finished last of nine in the WinStar Distaff Handicap at Lone Star Park May 26 on a soft turf course, her first start since January.

"She didn't handle it and just galloped around," Canani said. "I've got to throw the race out. I breezed her twice since she came back. I stopped on her at Santa Anita because she had ulcers."

The final race is for 2-year-old maiden claimers at 5 1/2 furlongs. Legendary Traitors, a troubled eighth in a maiden special weight race, adds blinkers and makes his first appearance against claimers.