Paradise Woods, La Force could see rematch at Del Mar

ARCADIA, Calif. – Prior to Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer John Shirreffs said he hoped Paradise Woods could win as a heavy favorite to achieve consecutive stakes wins for the first time in her three-year career.

The goal will have to wait until the early autumn, at the earliest.

La Force (5-1) beat Paradise Woods by 1 1/4 lengths in the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes after the 1-5 favorite stumbled at the start and raced in traffic in a field of five fillies and mares.

Once clear in early stretch, Paradise Woods closed with determination, but could not catch La Force, who had an uninterrupted rally.

“You’ve got to get over things quickly in this game,” Shirreffs said. “I wanted to put two wins together.”

Shirreffs described Paradise Woods as having emerged from the race unscathed with “no bumps or bruises” despite the poor start.

The Santa Maria was the second time La Force and Paradise Woods met this year. Paradise Woods won the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8 miles by 10 1/2 lengths over La Force on April 27, the first start of the year for La Force and third for Paradise Woods.

The two mares are likely to meet again in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar on July 28. The $300,000 Hirsch Stakes offers a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here in November.

La Force was eighth in the BC Distaff at Churchill Downs last November. Paradise Woods was third in the 2017 BC Distaff at Del Mar when trained by Richard Mandella. Paradise Woods was sent to Shirreffs last December by owners Marty and Pam Wygod and Steve Sarkowsky.

La Force, trained by Paddy Gallagher for Ward and Roberta Williford and Chuck Winner, won her first stakes in her 16th attempt in the Santa Maria.

La Force has won 3 of 25 starts and earned $550,800. She won a maiden race in Italy in 2016 and an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option here in February 2018.

A 5-year-old mare by the Oasis Dream stallion Power, La Force has been second or third in seven stakes, including runner-up finishes in three consecutive Grade 1 races in California in 2018 – the Beholder Mile, Clement Hirsch Stakes, and Zenyatta Stakes.

“We finally got the win after knocking on the door so many times,” Gallagher said in the winner’s circle. “The favorite was 1-5 and she didn’t probably have her best shot.

“La Force has been running in these spots for quite a while now and she’s been close. Sometimes you get disappointed and you really shouldn’t. If you’re running second or third in a graded stakes with a filly, you should always be happy.”

Monrovia recorded as Grade 3

The $200,702 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita on May 26 will be recognized as a Grade 3 race after the surface was switched from the turf course to the main track because of a minor amount of rain on the morning of the race.

The Monrovia was listed as a Grade 2 until the surface switch. When races are removed from turf, they are automatically downgraded one level until the American Graded Stakes Committee reviews the race to consider reinstatement.

Friday, the committee issued a statement saying the race would remain a Grade 3. S Y Sky won the Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares at five furlongs.

Stewards fine Treece

Trainer Chuck Treece was fined $4,000 by the Santa Anita stewards on Friday for violating the terms of a probation from a ruling issued at Los Alamitos last year.

In August, Treece, 59, was fined $4,000 and placed on probation for a year after Zachian, the winner of the first race at Los Alamitos on June 23, 2018, tested in excess of the permitted level of the anti-inflammatory betamethasone.

The terms of the probation stayed the $4,000 fine provided Treece did not have a violation of medications in classes 1 through 4 for a year. On April 26, the Santa Anita stewards fined Treece $5,000 after Sea Glass, a winner at Santa Anita on Feb. 11, tested in excess of the permitted level of the anti-inflammatory dexamethasone, the trainer’s fourth violation for an overage in a year.

Dexamethasone is a class 4 medication.

Treece has been fined $13,000 for five medication violations since the beginning of 2018, according to rulings published on the racing board’s website.