Wet track, short field aids Mirinda

ARCADIA, Calif. – A rainstorm this week in Arcadia jeoparadizes three turf races Friday at Santa Anita and may influence the six races scheduled for dirt.

Santa Anita closed the main track for training Tuesday and Wednesday, citing a “rain event.” According to the website RainDrop.farm, Arcadia received .16 inches of rain during the 24-hour period from Tuesday through Wednesday morning. A bigger storm was due Wednesday evening.

The most significant races on Friday are early on dirt. Entry-level allowance fillies and mares go 6 1/2 furlongs in race 2. Maiden 3-year-olds run 1 1/16 miles in race 3, a contest that could validate Baeza, the last-out maiden winner bound for the Santa Anita Derby.

The race 2 allowance includes Wishtheyallcouldbe and Seismic Beauty, who finished first and second last out in a similar situation. The upset candidate is California-bred allowance winner Mirinda, whose trainer, Gary Mandella, would be fine with a wet track.

“I think, based on the shape of her foot, she’d like the mud,” Mandella said. “Yes, we have to [run against] open, but we have a chance, for once in California, of getting a little bit of an off track, which I think will help her. That, and a five-horse field.”

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Based on figures, Mirinda is not as fast as Seismic Beauty or Wishtheyallcouldbe, but she will influence the tempo. Mirinda, listed at 6-1 and drawn in post 3 outside the favorites, figures to press the pace under jockey Edwin Maldonado.

Seismic Beauty is favored at 3-5, a curiously short price considering Wishtheyallcouldbe beat her on the square last time. Seismic Beauty drew the rail, while Wishtheyallcouldbe is in post 2 and a more likely winner for the productive trainer-jockey combination of Hector Palma and Tiago Pereira. They’ve teamed up to win four of their last eight at payoffs ranging from $10.60 to $43.20.

Wishtheyallcouldbe, a 9-for-29 pro, runs for the optional $50,000 claiming price. Fayette Fox and Yuki are also entered.

The race 3 maiden race includes Westwood, third last out in a highly rated maiden mile won by stablemate Baeza. Westwood started at 39-1, and trainer John Shirreffs was surprised at how well the horse ran. There were reasons for his improvement the second time out.

“First we had to do tie-back surgery, and we gelded him at the same time,” Shirreffs said.

Westwood loomed wide on the far turn before flattening out in his first start in six months. If he runs well Friday, Westwood would validate the decisive maiden victory by Baeza. Runner-up Mellencamp has already returned to finish fourth in a Grade 2.

With a promising comeback under his belt, Westwood should be tough under Pereira. The horse is the 5-2 second choice in the program, while the 9-5 favorite is Voldemort.

Bob Baffert trains Voldemort, runner-up to stablemate Tiz Secure first time out. Tiz Secure returned to finish fourth in the Pasadena Stakes last weekend.

Others in the maiden race include last-out sprint runners-up Modus Bestia and Tamino, debut fifth-place finisher Attack Now, and Cornhuskerchris.

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