McKinzie drills for Whitney; Paradise Woods works for Hirsch

DEL MAR, Calif. – The Grade 1 winners McKinzie and Paradise Woods worked at Del Mar on Wednesday in advance of important stakes.

McKinzie, a winner of five stakes who was second in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 8, officially worked five furlongs in 59 seconds, though trainer Bob Baffert said the 4-year-old worked six furlongs.

McKinzie is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 3. The winner receives a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

Paradise Woods worked five furlongs in 1:01.60 for the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on July 28. The winner receives a fees-paid berth in the BC Distaff on Nov. 2. A three-time stakes winner, Paradise Woods was third in the 2017 BC Distaff at Del Mar.

Trained by John Shirreffs, Paradise Woods was a troubled second in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita on June 1.