Paradise Woods to try turf in Osunitas Stakes

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Richard Mandella is hoping the grass is greener for Paradise Woods.

Having seen enough of Unique Bella for now in dirt races, and desirous of trying Paradise Woods on the surface on which her half-brother has thrived, Mandella will move Paradise Woods to the turf for the first time in the $75,000 Osunitas Stakes for fillies and mares on Friday at Del Mar.

The 1 1/16-mile Osunitas is restricted to runners who have not won a stakes race at a mile or over this year. Paradise Woods last year won two Grade 1 races, the Santa Anita Oaks and Zenyatta Stakes, but this year she is winless in two starts, most recently having finished a distant third behind Unique Bella in the Beholder Mile.

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With Unique Bella headed to the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch on July 29, Mandella was reluctant to go there.

“That gray monster’s in there,” he said.

In addition, Paradise Woods’s older half-brother, the Mandella-trained Forest Chatter, is 5 for 15 on turf, so Mandella thinks Paradise Woods should be given a chance on that surface.

“It’s a condition race,” Mandella said. “A nice place to try.”

Mandella is also planning on running Sassy Little Lila in the Osunitas. Others pointing to the Osunitas are Achira, Amboseli, Barleysugar, Compelled, Evo Campo, Fizzy Friday, Lynne’s Legacy, Midnight Crossing, Pantsonfire, and Vexatious.