Beholder Scratched From Vanity Due to Illness
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Beholder has been scratched from the May 9 Vanity Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park because of an illness that appears similar to the one that took her out of the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) last year.
Trainer Richard Mandella reported the two-time Eclipse Award winner had a fever of 102.6 degrees and had a high white blood cell count the morning of May 7 at Santa Anita, which forced him to scratch.
"She's fighting something, so she's out of the race," Mandella said.
Where this illness seems to differ from what struck Beholder before the Breeders' Cup is that tests have not shown inflammation in her lungs as they did in October, when she was also scratched from the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Lexington.
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Her fever spiked to 104 degrees in that instance, and x-rays showed inflammation in her lungs.
"We don't see it to that degree this time," Mandella said. "I'm not saying we're not dealing with the same thing, but it's not at that level yet."
The Spendthrift Farm-owned mare by Henny Hughes made her 5-year-old debut with an impressive win in the Santa Lucia Stakes April 10 and her connections hoped for runs the Vanity and the Ogden Phipps Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park June 6.