Getting to Know Beholder

Beholder winning this year's Clement L. Hirsh. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
One of the most dominant female horses over the last four seasons over multiple divisions, Beholder took her record to 3-for-3 in 2015 on Aug. 1 when she won the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar.
The race earned the two-time Breeders’ Cup winner a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff through its status as a “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series race. So without farther ado, let’s take a look at Beholder.
Race Résumé
With a record of 13 wins and three seconds from 18 races, it is easy to see why Beholder has been such a dominant force in racing. The champion 2-year-old filly of 2012 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, Beholder looked to be on track to try and add an older female championship to that list last year but ran out of racing luck.
Winning her first start of 2014 by 5 ¼ lengths, she went into what many thought was the toughest race of the spring for older females in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes on Belmont Stakes day. Sent off as the even-money favorite, Beholder finished fourth, only one length behind winner Close Hatches, but she was injured during the race.
After healing from that injury, Beholder was ready to go in the Zenyatta Stakes, a Grade 1 she had won as a 3-year-old the year before. Trainer Richard Mandella had her ready to roll and she won the race by three-quarters of a length to brush off the layoff rust before the Breeders’ Cup.
But after spiking a fever a little more than a week before the Breeders’ Cup, Beholder was removed from consideration from the race. The fever did have a positive however, as it allowed her to stay in training for her 5-year-old season.
Beholder has put last year’s misfire behind her, by winning her first three starts of the year by a combined margin of 12 lengths.
Beholder seems to be rounding into her best form now, with jockey Gary Stevens gearing her down late in the Clement L. Hirsch and still winning by seven lengths.
2015 CLEMENT L. HIRSCH

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Next up for Beholder could be the Pacific Classic Stakes on Aug. 22, which would mark her first start against males if owner B. Wayne Hughes agrees with Mandella.
“We may take a look at the Pacific Classic,” Mandella said. “It’s been in the back of my mind a while. The timing is good. We’re far enough away from the Breeders’ Cup to do it. It’ll be up to her and Mr. Hughes, obviously. I’ll have to get his approval.”
If Beholder wins the Pacific Classic, she’ll have a “Win and You’re In” ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Classic as well as the Distaff.
In both races, she would very likely be challenged on the front end throughout the race. While Beholder has rated behind other horses and still won, she seems to be much more comfortable when she race on the lead. Another Distaff “Win and You’re In” horse who has that same running style is Frivolous, although Beholder should be able to relax behind her if she doesn’t just have a higher cruising speed than Frivolous.
One of the potential downfalls for Beholder is that she has never run at Keeneland Race Course before. She is much more mature than in the past so shipping shouldn’t be an issue headed to the race, and Keeneland’s new track seems to favor speed a little bit more. But she will be facing horses who are based at Keeneland or have experience on the track, which could definitely give them an advantage over her.
However, there is the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland just a week after the Zenyatta Stakes. The race has been used as a prep for multiple Distaff runners over the past few years, so if her connections decide to go that route she can still get a prep on the track that has proved to be far enough out from the Breeders’ Cup.
Pedigree
Beholder comes from a deep female family with Grade 1 winner Henny Hughes as her sire.
Henny Hughes is best known as a sprinter, but he did have some short route experience with a runner-up finish in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Despite hopping to different countries throughout his career, he has 34 stakes winners as of Aug. 7 and two champions. Overall, the stallion has 332 winners with more than $30-million in progeny earnings from just six crops of racing age, according to Equineline statistics.
Beholder’s dam, Leslie’s Lady, comes from a long line of producers and is in that elite group of broodmares who has sired more than one Grade 1 winner. In addition to Beholder, she also is the dam of 2007 Cashcall Futurity winner Into Mischief, who is the sire of two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents.
GOLDENCENTS WINNING LAST YEAR'S DIRT MILE

Also produced by Beholder’s siblings is Harry’s Holiday, a stakes winner last year and Sarah Her Highness, a stakes-placed filly in Canada.
The stakes winners just keep coming through the generations but perhaps the next best known horse is 2012 champion 3-year-old male and dual classic winner I’ll Have Another, who shares a fourth dam with Beholder.
The last two years when writing this profile, I’ve believed that Beholder’s pedigree is more of a sprint type pedigree, and I still hold that belief, but I also think that Beholder has proved capable of outrunning her pedigree.
If they choose to run her in the Pacific Classic next, I don’t see anyone from California beating her there unless American Pharoah shows up. While I respect the male division, I also don’t think too many males would have a chance against her in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and think the same of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
However, this is horse racing and we still have a few months until the horses break from the gate in both the races so as we all know, anything can happen.