Beholder Looking Toward Return in Vanity
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Trainer Richard Mandella has changed plans regarding two-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder after her most recent workout April 2 at Santa Anita Park.
Mandella originally considered the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I) April 11 at Oaklawn Park for the six-time grade I winner's 5-year-old debut, but changed his mind after the daughter of Henny Hughes drilled seven furlongs in 1:26 4/5 Thursday morning under jockey Gary Stevens. Instead, Mandella said Beholder is now being pointed to the $300,000 Vanity Stakes (gr. I) May 9 at Santa Anita.
"I was kind of half-thinking of going to Oaklawn, but now I'm going to back down a little bit and point to the Vanity," Mandella said of the Spendthrift Farm-owned mare.
Last seen racing in her second-straight Zenyatta Stakes (gr. I) triumph Sept. 27 last year, Beholder also boasts grade I wins in the 2013 Breeders' Cup Distaff, Santa Anita Oaks, and Las Virgenes Stakes, along with the 2012 Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.