The jockey Reylu Gutierrez on Sunday afternoon was idling at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, trying to make his way back to New Orleans after riding Saturday at Oaklawn Park. All winter at Fair Grounds, Gutierrez has found a knack for getting home fast. Even after missing Sunday mounts due to the flight delay, Gutierrez comes into the penultimate race week of the 2022-23 Fair Grounds meet having won 61 times. That gave him a 14-victory cushion over James Graham, close to an insurmountable lead with 10 cards left beginning with Wednesday’s. Gutierrez rode his first Fair Grounds meet during the 2021-22 season and finished with 51 winners, fifth in the standings. He came to New Orleans this past November with one main goal, to win his first riding title anywhere, and he is close to seeing that through. “The expectations were to be competitive for leading rider,” said Gutierrez. “I’m grateful. I kind of can’t believe I’m doing as well as I am.” At Oaklawn on Saturday, Gutierrez offered a sample of his path to Fair Grounds success. Riding an allowance race on Barber Road, a horse whose late-running style and knack for finding trouble has cost him in the past, Gutierrez placed his mount surprisingly close to the pace. He made an inside move down the backstretch to take the lead, and though Barber Road wound up getting run down in deep stretch, such aggressiveness has won plenty of races this winter at Fair Grounds. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play with FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic.  “I jog on the track every day. I know what they do to the track every day, and I have a good idea of how it’s going to play. Fair Grounds has a maintenance program I’ve just learned. It can be extremely speed-favoring at times. If your horse breaks well, use it,” said Gutierrez, who has gone 4 for 34 during a limited grass season and ridden five stakes winners at the meet. Gutierrez has ridden first call at Fair Grounds for Bret Calhoun, who led the trainer standings much of the meet. As Calhoun has cooled off, Gutierrez, represented by Jose Santos Jr., has expanded his business to keep finding winners. “I’m riding good horses. That helps a lot,” he said. Dark days Monday and Tuesday this week meant a trip to Kentucky to work horses in preparation for Keeneland in April and Churchill Downs in May. Kentucky was a struggle during 2022: Gutierrez went 16-233 riding at Churchill and Keeneland. But a Fair Grounds riding title would give him momentum. With jockeys, success tends to beget success, and at age 27, Gutierrez, a native of Rochester, N.Y., just might be having his breakout. ◗ Jareth Loveberry, who was in hunt for leading rider much of the Fair Grounds meet, is named on a horse Thursday at Fair Grounds, and if given final clearance Monday by a physician, Loveberry will be back in action about two weeks after getting hurt in a gate accident. After an initially grim diagnosis, Loveberry was told he had a hairline fracture of his fibula, and, pain-free, he worked horses this past weekend in Chicago. ◗ Bishops Bay, the 3-year-old Uncle Mo colt who got a 97 Beyer winning his six-furlong career debut on Feb. 18 at Fair Grounds, will stretch out to two turns Sunday in a first-level allowance race. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.