Gutierrez looks to break out of slump

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Jorge Gutierrez could use a batch of luck this spring at Hollywood Park.

Through Monday, Gutierrez has had just one winner from 35 starters.

"It seems like nothing is going right," he said on Wednesday. "I want to win a race."

Friday evening, on a program that will have high interest from racing fans, Gutierrez has a chance to revive his slumping stable. He has starters in two of legs of a pick six that begins with a carryover of $150,594.

Gutierrez starts Warren's Swap Fox in the fifth race, a $12,500 claimer over six furlongs, and Warren's Tommy Too, in race 6, a maiden claimer over 6 1/2 furlongs. Both horses are owned by Ben Warren and are cutting back in distance from two-turn routes.

Gutierrez said the shorter distances should help their chances.

Warren's Swap Fox was fourth in a starter allowance over 1 1/16 miles on May 13, her fourth consecutive loss. She won a maiden claimer over 6 1/2 furlongs last October at Santa Anita.

"It seemed like she wanted to go long, but she couldn't handle it," Gutierrez said. "She's proven that she can handle 6 or 6 1/2 [furlongs]."

Warren's Swap Fox is part of a field of eight in the fifth race, the third leg of the pick six. Cenizo, who won a $16,000 claimer at Santa Anita in March, and Frequent Fame, who won a $12,500 claimer for nonwinners of two races at Golden Gate Fields on May 6, are capable of winning.

Warren's Tommy Too is winless in five starts. On May 12, he led a maiden claimer for statebreds to the eighth pole but faded to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind Gotham Devil.

"He just kind of fell apart," Gutierrez said of the final furlong.

In March at Santa Anita, Warren's Tommy Too was second in a seven-furlong maiden claimer, giving the trainer hope that Friday's race will be a better trip. Warren's Tommy Too is part of a field of 12 that includes Stick to the Plan and Speedy Marini, who were second and third at this level on May 14, and the first-time starter Inflatable Dreams.

Sadler sends out two contenders on turf

Trainer John Sadler will send out two possible winners on turf in Friday's pick six, with Oui Say Oui in the fourth race and Sister Dawn in the seventh.

Sister Dawn will make her turf debut and will race without blinkers. The removal of the equipment is designed to make the 3-year-old filly Sister Dawn more patient.

"The blinkers made her a little too aggressive to me," Sadler said. "I want her more relaxed."

Sister Dawn was third in an optional claimer over six furlongs here on April 25, a race that Sadler missed because he was attending to his Kentucky Derby starters at Churchill Downs that week. In watching the replay of Sister Dawn's race, Sadler said he suspects jockey Rafael Bejarano lost a stirrup at the start of that race.

"She kind of took off with him," he said. "I think she's very good. She has a chance to put her best foot forward."

The race features the United States debut of Kalanetta, an Irish import who has not raced since winning a seven-furlong maiden race on Polytrack last September. Trainer Mike Puype said he thinks that Kalanetta will be better suited to longer races in the future.

"I want to get a race into her before Del Mar," he said. "She comes from a little out of it."

Oui Say Oui drew the rail in a tough one-mile optional claimer on turf, a race which is expected to have only seven starters. Conniption, who won an allowance race on May 20, is likely to be scratched because of a foot problem, trainer Simon Callaghan said on Wednesday.

Oui Say Oui won a first-condition allowance race over 1 1/16 miles on turf by 4 1/4 lengths on May 5, her first win since arriving in the U.S. in late 2008.

The race is led by Welken, a $62,500 claimer who has won 5 of her last 6 starts.