Fun to Dream Meets Tough Field in Beholder Mile

Fun to Dream , the newly crowned 2022 California-bred Horse of the Year, returns to competition March 11 in the $500,000 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

The Arrogate  filly, propelled to her California title with a season-ending victory in the Dec. 26 La Brea Stakes (G1), seeks her third consecutive graded victory Saturday. She is riding a four-race win streak counting wins in easier company.

From the always-tough Bob Baffert stable, Fun to Dream faces a field that includes a couple of stablemates. The rest come from the nationally prominent barns of Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Phil D'Amato, Doug O'Neill, and John Sadler. Each of the eight fillies or mares has won or placed in graded stakes.

Though Fun to Dream is by an Eclipse Award winner and hails from the barn of a Hall of Fame trainer, her origin story is scrappy. It was celebrated several times at the March 6 California Thoroughbred Breeders Association awards banquet, where her connections picked up trophies for her as champion Cal-bred 3-year-old female and sprinter and for Horse of the Year.

The late Mike Pageler decided to breed Lutess , an $8,000 claim for the Live Your Dream Racing group, which he belonged to in 2012. After she produced multiple stakes winner Heck Yeah , a Cal-bred son of Acclamation   trained by Baffert for Pageler, Bob Baedeker, and Michael Sigband, Baffert offered to breed the mare to Arrogate on a foal-sharing arrangement.

Pageler only lived long enough to know Lutess was in foal, and his widow, Connie, owns Fun to Dream with Jill Baffert, Bob's wife.

At the banquet, Connie thanked Baffert and Baedeker "for teaching me the ropes and keeping me in the game and doing Mike's dream."

Jill also spoke of what Fun to Dream has meant to them, saying, "She makes my heart skip a beat whenever I see her, and she's brought our family so much joy, especially in times when we needed a little joy."

Fun to Dream has won six times in seven starts, all with Juan Hernandez aboard, who will again ride from post 8. Beginning against Cal-breds, Fun to Dream collected the 2022 Fleet Treat Stakes and Betty Grable Stakes before graduating to graded company, where she is 2-for-2 in the La Brea and the Feb. 4 Santa Monica Stakes (G2).

Midnight Memories  and Ganadora , also trained by Baffert, ran fourth and fifth in the La Brea and will return for the Beholder. Midnight Memories, owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, has not competed since then but previously captured the Sept. 4 Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) and Oct. 2 Zenyatta Stakes (G2). Ganadora, owned by the Baoma Corp. of Charlie and Susan Chu, finished second by a nose in the Jan. 15 La Canada Stakes (G3) and won the 2022 Dark Mirage Stakes. Ramon Vazquez will pilot Midnight Memories from post 4, while Edwin Maldonado will be aboard Ganadora from post 6.

Kirstenbosch  defeated Ganadora in the La Canada and ran third behind Fun to Dream in the La Brea. Sadler trains the 4-year-old Midnight Lute   filly, who drew the rail. Kazushi Kimura, the leading jockey at Woodbine last year and winner of the March 4 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) on Gold Phoenix  at Santa Anita, rode Kirstenbosch in the La Canada and La Brea and is back up.

"She's had good spacing since the last race and she's improving," said Sadler, who for the first time this year is a finalist for induction into the Hall of Fame. "Obviously this is a tougher group, it's a grade 1, but she's doing great."

O'Neill trains Awake At Midnyte  (Mario Gutierrez, post 3), second to Fun to Dream in the Santa Monica and La Brea and runner-up to Midnight Memories in the Zenyatta. Between those efforts, Awake At Midnyte was eighth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). She is the only horse to have finished ahead of Fun to Dream. That occurred in a Sept. 4 allowance optional claimer, which Awake At Midnyte won over Fun to Dream by 3 1/4 lengths. Fun to Dream was subsequently disqualified from second to ninth for veering in and causing interference early in the race.

Pauline's Pearl  (John Velazquez, post 2) and A Mo Reay  (Flavien Prat, post 5) are shipping in for the Beholder, both exiting graded victories.

Asmussen trains Pauline's Pearl, who captured her second consecutive Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3) at Sam Houston Jan. 28 over a muddy track. The 5-year-old daughter of Tapit   has won six stakes during her career, including the 2021 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park and 2022 La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Cox starts A Mo Reay, winner of the Feb. 4 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn. The 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo   ran third to champion Echo Zulu  in the 2021 Frizette Stakes (G1) and finished last year with a victory at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in the Pago Hop Stakes.

Desert Dawn  comes into the Beholder off a layoff, not starting since second in the Sept. 4 Torrey Pines Stakes. D'Amato trains the 4-year-old daughter of Cupid  , and Umberto Rispoli will ride from post 7. Last year Desert Dawn won the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) and placed in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1), and Summertime Oaks (G2).

Entries: Beholder Mile S. (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, March 11, 2023, Race 8

• Grade I
• 1m
• Dirt
• $500,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:59 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Kirstenbosch (KY)	Kazushi Kimura	122	John W. Sadler	12/1
2	2Pauline's Pearl (KY)	John R. Velazquez	122	Steven M. Asmussen	7/2
3	3Awake At Midnyte (KY)	Mario Gutierrez	120	Doug F. O'Neill	10/1
4	4Midnight Memories (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	122	Bob Baffert	4/1
5	5A Mo Reay (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Brad H. Cox	5/1
6	6Ganadora (KY)	Edwin A. Maldonado	120	Bob Baffert	15/1
7	7Desert Dawn (AZ)	Umberto Rispoli	122	Philip D'Amato	4/1
8	8Fun to Dream (CA)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	Bob Baffert	5/2