Demonica excelling on turf

DEL MAR, Calif. – Demonica was highly regarded when she first came to trainer John Sadler’s barn last year at age 2, but in her first four starts on dirt and Polytrack, she finished in the money just once.

She was moved to turf last month at Santa Anita, and that appears to have turned her career around. After beating maidens that day, she came back Thursday and won a first-level optional claimer. Both her victories came against California-breds.

“It’s like Scooter Bird,” Larry Benavidez, Sadler’s top assistant, said of a filly who has become a terror as a long-distance turf horse. “You’re devastated when they first lose because you have such high hopes, and then you find out 18 months later that they want to run a mile and a half on the grass.

“Obviously, Demonica has found a home on turf,” Benavidez said.