Beholder's 3-Year-Old Teena Ella Aims to Take Flight

Teena Ella  will become the first offspring of four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder  to run in a stakes race when she competes in the $100,000 Angels Flight Stakes March 26 on Santa Anita Park's hillside turf course.

By prominent turf sire War Front  , Teena Ella earned her stakes shot for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella with a sharp six-furlong maiden win when switched to the grass in the third start. In her two previous outings, both going six furlongs on the main track, Teena Ella showed speed for a half-mile before fading.

"Obviously she showed she can handle the turf the other day and has really been doing well," said Mandella, who also trained Beholder. "She looks like a filly that is growing and improving. I certainly hope that's the case."

Teena Ella is listed as the 3-1 co-second choice on the morning line for the 6 1/2-furlong Angels Flight. She has worked four times since her graduation victory including a quick half-mile drill in :47 2/5 March 20. Jockey Kazushi Kimura was up for the work and has the call in the Angels Flight. He replaces Santa Anita leading rider Juan Hernandez, who has opted to ride 8-5 morning-line favorite Manhattan Jungle  for trainer Michael McCarthy.

Teena Ella is a homebred for Spendthrift Farm, who also bred and campaigned Beholder. She is the third foal out of her Hall of Fame dam and only winner. Beholder's first two foals, Karin With an I and QB One, were a combined 0-for-6 on the racetrack for Mandella.

"The first two were a little disappointing, but this one is doing pretty good. We have high hopes," Mandella said.

Beholder won four Eclipse Awards during five seasons of racing when racking up a record of 18-6-0 record in 26 starts with earnings of $6,156,600. She was champion 2-year-old filly in 2012 when she won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and then champion 3-year-old filly the following season when she beat older foes in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). Beholder would then be named the champion older female of 2015 with a campaign that included a win against boys in the Pacific Classic (G1). She repeated that championship feat in 2016 after adding a second victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita when defeating heavily favored Songbird  by a dramatic nose.

Last year, Beholder was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Manhattan Jungle bids for her second consecutive hillside turf victory Sunday.

A promising second in her U.S. debut here, the one-mile turf Blue Norther Stakes Dec. 30, Manhattan Jungle was off as the even-money favorite versus nine rivals in the ungraded Sweet Life Stakes Feb. 11 and rallied for an impressive three-quarter length victory under Frankie Dettori.

With Dettori out of town to ride in Dubai this week, Hernandez picks up the mount. A winner of three out of her seven starts at age 2 in France, Manhattan Jungle is now owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and is 4-2-1 in 10 starts overall with earnings of $199,333.

Other leading contenders include Ragtime Rose  and Broadway Girls .

Entries: Angels Flight S.

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, March 26, 2023, Race 7

• STK
• About 6 1/2f
• Downhill turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:07 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Manhattan Jungle (IRE)	Juan J. Hernandez	124	Michael W. McCarthy	8/5
2	2Broadway Girls (KY)	Umberto Rispoli	124	Doug F. O'Neill	3/1
3	3Ragtime Rose (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	120	Jeff Mullins	7/2
4	4Teena Ella (KY)	Kazushi Kimura	120	Richard E. Mandella	3/1
5	5Pleasant Wave (KY)	Joe Bravo	120	George Papaprodromou	12/1
6	6Fast and Shiny (KY)	Abel Cedillo	122	Bob Baffert	8/1