D'Amato hoping to end slump this week

The first three weeks of the Del Mar summer meeting have not been kind to trainer Phil D’Amato.

Through Sunday, D’Amato had 1 win from 31 runners, far below his normal productivity. Last summer at Del Mar, D’Amato had 20 wins from 83 starters, and was second in the trainers’ standings to Peter Miller, who had 28 wins.

“We’re definitely not where we want to be,” D’Amato said. “Things have been zigging and we’ve been zagging – bad posts and you name it.

“It’s the ebbs and flows of horse racing. We’re still loaded for the meet, and hopefully this week we can turn it around. We have a lot of good, talented horses to run.”

Friday, D’Amato has runners in four of the eight races, including the well-regraded Connie Swingle in race 5, a maiden special weight for California-bred fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs.

In the seventh race, D’Amato starts Elm Drive and Sax in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs.

On Saturday, D’Amato has two expected starters in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes for fillies and mares with Charmaine’s Mia and Raymundos Secret. He has Cathkin Peak in Sunday’s Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap for 3-year-olds.

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Cathkin Peak, an Irish-bred gelding, won his American stakes debut in the Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita last December, and was second to eventual Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World in the Pasadena Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita in February. Cathkin Peak was rested in the spring and has not started since the Pasadena.

Juan Hernandez will ride Cathkin Peak for the first time, replacing Flavien Prat, who is riding this weekend at Saratoga.

The $200,000 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies will be the stakes debut for Sax, a recent arrival from Churchill Downs, and Elm Drive, an attractive maiden race winner at Los Alamitos on June 26.

Sax, previously trained by Derrick Bright, won a maiden special weight race at five furlongs on June 11. The race was restricted to horses sold or listed as bought back for $45,000 or less in their most recent auction. Sax was sold for $7,000 as a yearling. On July 12, she was listed as bought back for $95,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July horses of racing age sale in Kentucky.

Sax arrived at D’Amato’s barn days later.

“She came into me in good shape,” D’Amato said. “I think she’s getting acclimated to the new surroundings.

“She strikes me as a tactical filly. We did add blinkers to get her more focused.”

Joe Bravo has the mount on Sax, who is part of a field of 11.