Birdie Gold takes her shot in Santa Margarita

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita looks like a good time to try the longshot Birdie Gold in a lucrative two-turn stakes on dirt.

The $200,000 Santa Margarita Stakes is run at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares and has not drawn two of the tougher runners in the division – Secret Spice and Marley’s Freedom, who were first and second in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 30.

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Trainer Gary Mandella will start Birdie Gold with the hope the Peruvian Group 1 stakes winner can perform well in her first start on dirt in this country.

“My filly is a Grade 1 winner in her home country,” Mandella said. “I think she’ll be better on the dirt.

“She could make herself a lot more valuable. I’m taking a shot.”

Owned by Teneri Farm, Birdie Gold is winless in six starts in the United States, five of which were on turf. Birdie Gold was 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar in November 2017. She won the Group 1 Clasico Pamplona at 1 1/4 miles on turf in Peru in her final start in that country in June 2017.

Birdie Gold’s best race in this country was a third in the Miss America Stakes on the synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields on Dec. 8. More recently, Birdie Gold was sixth in an optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf April 6 at Santa Anita.

The field for the Santa Margarita is expected to be led by Paradise Woods, a two-time Grade 1 winner who was third in the Beholder Mile. Other expected starters on Saturday are Exuberance, Just a Smidge, La Force, Lemoona, Starr of Quality, and Withholding Info.

Saturday’s program includes the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for California-breds at a mile on turf. Brandothebartender, winner of the California Flag Stakes at a mile on turf in October, is among the probable starters.