Paradise Woods gets chance to shine in Santa Margarita

ARCADIA, Calif. – Although the Santa Margarita Stakes received a downgrade this year to Grade 2, the Saturday race retains significance in 2019, particularly for Paradise Woods.

Eight fillies and mares entered the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita, and the pressure is on Paradise Woods, the 9-5 favorite.

Paradise Woods, star 3-year-old in 2017 when she won two Grade 1 races, is trying to reestablish herself as a relevant 5-year-old.

“As they get older, they’re not running against their own age group, so it’s a little different,” trainer John Shirreffs said. “It’s an exceptional horse that can maintain their position in that class.”

Paradise Woods was an exceptional 3-year-old for trainer Richard Mandella, winning the Santa Anita Oaks and Zenyatta Stakes. Her 4-year-old campaign was a bust, however, and in late 2018 she was transferred to the Shirreffs stable. The $200,000 Santa Margarita is her third start back.

After finishing last in a comeback sprint, Paradise Woods improved at two turns. She finished a respectable third in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile. If she can stay the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Santa Margarita, Paradise Woods should win.

“It will all be about her finish – that’s always the thing with her,” Shirreffs said. “Does she have it at the end of the race? I like the way she’s been working.”

The seven others include La Force, a Grade 1-placed mare who will be making her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; Lemoona, who won a second-level allowance last out at a mile and one-eighth on turf; and Starr of Quality, who figures to relish the distance. The stablemates Just a Smidge and Withholding Info are entered, along with outsiders Exuberance and Birdie Gold.

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Although she was a Grade 1 winner before she joined the Shirreffs stable, Paradise Woods also was a project.

“We’re trying to work on her being not quite as intense and trying to run through the bridle as much as she wants,” Shirreffs said. “She’s made a lot of progress in that regard.”

Her new rider is Mike Smith, who worked her last Saturday and told Shirreffs she was easier to manage than when he worked her last year. From the outside post, Smith and Paradise Woods figure for a front-running or pace-pressing trip.

La Force has won only two races, but her seven runner-up finishes include three Grade 1’s last year. Paddy Gallagher trains La Force, who is starting for the first time since finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Is she ready?

“She seems fine, she seems good,” Gallagher said. “Like everyone, there was some weather here in the winter that interfered once in a while. She ran some good races here before.”

It is possible La Force needs a race.

Allowance-caliber entrants Lemoona and Starr of Quality seek to upset. Lemoona ran the best race of her career last out in a second-level turf allowance that she crushed by more than five lengths. Trainer Richard Baltas believes her improvement was due to seasoning and strategy.

“Maybe she’s just happy and maturing now,” Baltas said. “I couldn’t figure her out [last year]. She would get hot in the morning; she would get hot on the afternoon. Now she doesn’t.”

Baltas also speculated she might prefer to be taken off the pace, and Joel Rosario obliged last out.

“He took her back, dead last, and she just swooped the field,” Baltas said. “She came out of the race really well, she gained weight, she’s happy.”

Aaron Gryder rides her Saturday.

Starr of Quality finished second in a two-other-than allowance last out. The race gained validation when third-place Secret Spice returned to win the Grade 1 Beholder. Trainer Bill Spawr believes the mile and one-eighth Santa Margarita distance, over a slow, tiring surface, will be ideal.

“She closes ground,” Spawr said. “A mile and an eighth might compromise some of the others. We know she can handle it.”

KEY CONTENDERS

Paradise Woods, by Union Rags

Last 3 Beyers: 94-82-88

◗ Shirreffs has won the Santa Margarita five times, including his most recent with Zenyatta in 2010. Ron McAnally leads all trainers with six wins in the Santa Margarita.

La Force, by Power

Last 3 Beyers: 82-92-99

◗ She entered a Grade 3 last week at Keeneland but did not ship from California. Drayden Van Dyke is her regular rider and will be aboard on Saturday.

Starr of Quality, by First Dude

Last 3 Beyers: 79-82-71

◗ She is 5 for 11 at Santa Anita and 0 for 10 everywhere else. Tiago Pereira rides.

Lemoona, by Lemon Drop Kid

Last 3 Beyers: 86-79-77

◗ She is the only entrant with a win at 1 1/8 miles. Her dam, Singita, won only two races but she is a sibling to two-time Grade 2 marathon turf winner Juniper Pass.