La Force Starts 2019 Campaign in Santa Margarita
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
La Force (left) finishes three-quarters of a length behind Vale Dori in the 2018 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita Park
Roberta Williford, Ward Williford and Charles Winner's La Force finished second in three grade 1 stakes last year. She tackled championship-caliber distaff rivals along the lines of Unique Bella, Monomoy Girl, and Fault, and more times than not finished within a few lengths of them.
And yet, trainer Patrick Gallagher can just as easily start the daughter of Power in a second-level allowance race as he can enter her in a graded stakes.
Strange but true.
When La Force returns for her 5-year-old debut April 27 in the $200,000 Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, the older, and hopefully more resolute, German-bred mare will try to break free from the runner-up blues that have shadowed her and finally reel in a stakes victory that proved to be just out of her reach a year ago.
While La Force ran well enough to post second-place finishes in the grade 1 trio of the Zenyatta Stakes, Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, and Beholder Mile Stakes in 2018, her career record stands in direct contrast to those stellar performances. In 23 starts, she has been victorious only twice—with seven seconds and four thirds—and has not graced the winner's circle since Feb. 16, 2018, when she captured an allowance optional claimer at Santa Anita seven starts ago.
"We were very pleased with her races last year. You don't like to run second but when it's a grade 1 stakes you feel a little better about it," Gallagher said. "We'd all like to win a grade 1, and maybe one day she'll be ready to do it. Some very good fillies that we faced last year have retired, so hopefully she can run her best races this year and get a victory in one of those graded stakes."
La Force was fourth in last year's grade 1 Santa Margarita, 8 3/4 lengths behind Fault, which came on the heels of her second career win. This time, in the downgraded grade 2 Santa Margarita, she will face seven rivals in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile test for fillies and mares fresh from a break of about 5 1/2 months since a season-ending eighth-place finish in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), her fifth grade 1 start in 2018.
"She seems to be doing well," Gallagher said. "We were thinking of running her before this but with the weather we had this winter and the cancellations (at Santa Anita in March) it slowed her up a bit and we took our time with her. We're confident but there are a lot of nice fillies in there."
Among the main rivals is the multiple grade 1 winner Paradise Woods, owned by Steven Sarkowsky, Martin J. Wygod, and Pam Wygod. La Force and Paradise Woods met last year in the Beholder Mile, with La Force finishing 5 1/2 lengths in front of the Kentucky-bred daughter of Union Rags as she finished second with Paradise Woods in third behind the since-retired Unique Bella.
Paradise Woods has already started twice in 2019 for new trainer John Shirreffs, who took over for Richard Mandella. The 5-year-old mare was third in the Beholder Mile March 30, 3 1/2 lengths behind Secret Spice, and fifth in the Santa Monica Stakes (G2) a month earlier.
Shirreffs already owns five wins in the Santa Margarita, the most recent coming in 2010 with the practically perfect Zenyatta.
Considering the auspicious start to her career, her current stretch of seven straight losses, dating back to a victory in the 2017 Zenyatta has to be viewed as a disappointment. In just her third career start, Paradise Woods posted an ultra-impressive 11 3/4-length victory in the 2017 Santa Anita Oaks (G1) for Mandella, who trained her through the end of her 4-year-old campaign.
Sent off as a 6-5 favorite in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) off that lopsided win in California, Paradise Woods floundered over a sloppy surface at Churchill Downs and faded to 11th after setting the early pace. Two starts later, she romped by 5 1/4 lengths in the Zenyatta, but owns a record of a second and three thirds in seven starts since then.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will take time out from his pursuit of a sixth Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) victory to send out two starters in the Santa Margarita.
Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman's homebred Withholding Info has triumphed in two of her three career starts, including an April 7 optional-claiming win at 3-5 odds at Santa Anita in her most recent effort.
Debbie Lanni's Just a Smidge is coming off a last-place finish in the Beholder Mile at 38-1 odds after a slow start and has yet to finish better than fifth in five tries in graded stakes company. She was purchased for $425,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
The California-bred Starr of Quality, re-claimed for $32,000 last year by Tom Acker and Jon Lindo and trainer Bill Spawr, faced both of Baffert's runner in her last two starts. She was second to Just a Smidge in a Feb. 7 allowance optional claimer and defeated Withholding Info in a Jan. 6 allowance race, both at Santa Anita.
The Santa Margarita will serve as the graded stakes debut for the consistent 5-year-old mare, who has been in the money in 15 of 21 starts.
The field of eight also includes Zayat Stables' Lemoona, who won an allowance optional claimer by 5 1/4 lengths April 6 and was fourth in last year's Zenyatta. A Kentucky-bred daughter of Lemon Drop Kid , she sold for $170,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Santa Anita Park, Saturday, April 27, 2019, Race 8Entries: Santa Margarita S. (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Starr of Quality (CA)
Tiago Josue Pereira
120
William Spawr
5/1
2
2Exuberance (KY)
Norberto Arroyo, Jr.
120
Ian Kruljac
20/1
3
3La Force (GER)
Drayden Van Dyke
120
Patrick Gallagher
4/1
4
4Birdie Gold (KY)
Victor Espinoza
120
Gary Mandella
20/1
5
5Withholding Info (KY)
Joseph Talamo
120
Bob Baffert
6/1
6
6Lemoona (KY)
Aaron T. Gryder
120
Richard Baltas
3/1
7
7Just a Smidge (KY)
Martin Garcia
120
Bob Baffert
10/1
8
8Paradise Woods (KY)
Mike E. Smith
120
John A. Shirreffs
9/5
