A Mo Reay Nails Fun to Dream on Wire in Beholder
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Photo: Benoit Photo
A Mo Reay (outside) nips Fun to Dream in the Beholder Mile Stakes at Santa Anita Park
Co-owners Adrian Regan and John Wade were not about to miss an opportunity to witness the first grade 1 victory in the silks of Kentucky-based Hunter Valley Farm in person. It meant traveling to California for the $501,500 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) March 11 at Santa Anita Park. But they had confidence in A Mo Reay , who shipped in from Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots for trainer Brad Cox, and jockey Flavien Prat wrested a last-second head victory from local favorite Fun to Dream .
"I said to John when they got straightened up that we had a chance," Regan said. "Then she looked as if she was going to be a good second. But then Flavien went and did his work and got her home for us."
The eight fillies and mares in the Beholder field did not have a weak link in the bunch. Each distaffer brought graded stakes credentials, and the local contingent behind Fun to Dream would be formidable even if Fun to Dream did not fire. But Fun to Dream did fire, making A Mo Reay work hard for the win.
Bob Baffert-trained fillies dominated the early running of the Beholder, as Ganadora took the lead and Fun to Dream prompted her stablemate's pace. Ganadora carved out reasonable fractions, completing the first quarter-mile in :23.19 and the half-mile in :47.14 over a drying-out track rated good.
The field for the Beholder Mile Stakes barrels down the stretch at Santa Anita Park
Prat sat in third with A Mo Reay, and while they raced three wide, they were perfectly placed. Around the second turn, Fun to Dream collared Ganadora and looked like she was heading for her third consecutive graded stakes victory. Recently crowned the 2022 California-bred Horse of the Year, Fun to Dream had won the Dec. 26 La Brea Stakes (G1) and Feb. 4 Santa Monica Stakes (G2), both over shorter distances at Santa Anita.
Prat asked A Mo Reay in the turn as well, and she swung four wide into the stretch, eager to catch the game California filly, who at that point had a daylight lead.
"She really dug in when it was time to run, and she was traveling well all the way around," Prat said.
The great feeling of seeing your family after winning the Beholder Stakes (GI). We will live thru Flavien Prat who visits with his family after the win. Watch more on @fandueltv. pic.twitter.com/CGFoL9BRLH
— TVG (@TVG) March 12, 2023
Fun to Dream was not about to give in, but A Mo Reay was doggedly determined. A Mo Reay closed the gap with every stride, snatching the victory from Fun to Dream in the last moment. A Mo Reay stopped the timer in 1:36.25. Fun to Dream finished 2 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place Midnight Memories .
"If you could script a way to ride that particular race, Flavien did it," Wade said admiringly.
Prat was aboard A Mo Reay for the first time. He took his second consecutive Beholder, having piloted As Time Goes By for Baffert in 2022.
"I watched her previous race (the Feb. 4 Bayakoa Stakes, G3), and I talked to Brad," Prat said. "He was really high on her and really wanted her in the race. He was right."
Cox obviously was not worried about whether A Mo Reay could handle shipping out to California. The 4-year-old Kentucky-bred Uncle Mo filly in her first nine starts, when trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by My Racehorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm, had competed at New York tracks, Keeneland, and Laurel Park. After Cox took over A Mo Reay's training late last year, she scored in back-to-back stakes victories at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park. She is now 3-for-3 under Cox's tutelage for her current ownership.
A Mo Reay could have remained at Oaklawn for the March 11 Azeri Stakes (G2). Regan was pleased that instead of going up against victorious 2022 Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Secret Oath in that grade 2 event, A Mo Reay instead collected her first grade 1.
T & G Farm of Kentucky bred A Mo Reay from the graded stakes-placed Pioneerof the Nile mare Margaret Reay . Regan said that Hunter Valley bought the filly last year at The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton, the ticket being signed in the name of Green Acres Farm for $400,000.
"At the sale we loved her physically," Regan said, "And obviously the Uncle Mo for further down the road and the breeding side of things. Uncle Mo fillies you can't get a hold of, but an Uncle Mo filly that wins a grade 1 is a bit special."
Connections of A Mo Reay in the winner's circle
Regan and Wade own Hunter Valley with Fergus Galvin and Tony Hegarty, buying the Versailles, Ky., acreage in 2004. Before the Beholder, the closest to a grade 1 Hunter Valley had come was also at Santa Anita, in the 2022 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) with Family Way , another daughter of Uncle Mo.
"Family Way was very unlucky out here in October," Regan said. "She was second in the grade 1, but this has more than made up for it today."