Breeders' Cup Legends: Beholder

Beholder is one of the most accomplished fillies or mares in Breeders' Cup history. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Few fillies or mares can match Beholder’s achievements in the Breeders’ Cup. The two-time champion became only the second horse at the time to win two different Breeders’ Cup races with her Distaff victory in 2013, and she ranks behind only Zenyatta, Goldikova and Royal Delta in Breeders’ Cup earnings for a filly or mare. The remarkably consistent racemare has finished worse than second only twice in 19 career starts.
Beholder began her career with a fourth-place finish behind Executiveprivilege, a standout filly who would become a familiar foe. After breaking her maiden impressively in her second start, Beholder lost to Executiveprivilege again in her first stakes try, the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, by a nose.
Undeterred, connections regrouped with an allowance race where Beholder demolished the field in an 11-length romp. Confidence was high heading into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but Executiveprivilege was again waiting in the wings. Bettors made Executiveprivilege the 1.50-to-1 choice ahead of Beholder at 3.90-to-1, and the race once again came down to that pair.
BEHOLDER TRAINS FOR THE 2012 BREEDERS' CUP

Beholder is a speedy type, and in her first Breeders’ Cup she jumped straight to the lead, covering a half-mile in 46.47 and six furlongs in 1:11 flat. Executiveprivilege stalked from third position and made her move at the top of the stretch, but Beholder had more left and galloped to a one-length win. Despite losing to Executiveprivilege in two out of three meetings, Beholder had won the Breeders’ Cup, and with it secured the title of champion 2-year-old filly. Owner B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm and trainer Richard Mandella were gratified with the win.
“Quite frankly, as a prejudiced point of view I consider her the best 2-year-old filly in the country,” Hughes told the Daily Racing Form, “and maybe the world."
2012 BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES

Video courtesy Breeders’ Cup World Championships
"About 100 yards out, I was getting concerned, but I saw that she had that look in her eye that she wouldn't give up," Mandella said. “She ran her heart out.”
A throat ulcer was blamed for Beholder’s loss in her 3-year-old debut, and after recovery time she was back to her winning ways in her second sophomore start, capturing the Grade 1 Las Virgenes and Santa Anita Oaks en route to an appearance in the Kentucky Oaks.
Beholder is known for her excitable temperament and the crowd of more than 113,000 on hand for the Oaks at Churchill Downs might have been her undoing. The filly acted up in the post parade, tossing her jockey, and after a stalking trip she rolled to the lead in the homestretch. But with Executiveprivilege on the sidelines, this time it was Princess of Sylmar who served as Beholder’s nemesis as she steamed down the center of the track to win by a half-length.
Beholder was shelved until late summer, when she resurfaced and won the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar. After that it was back to her favorite track where she won the Zenyatta Stakes to bring her record at Santa Anita to 5-of-6.
But that was just a tune-up. Beholder headed into the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Distaff with a championship on the line. She was once again facing a foe that seemed to have a stranglehold on year-end honors, as Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar entered the race off wins in a pair of prestigious Grade 1s for sophomore fillies and an impressive victory in the Grade 1 Beldame against the best older mare in the country and another Distaff foe, Royal Delta.
When the gates opened the race unfolded like few expected. A four-horse scramble for the lead ended with Authenticity setting the pace and Beholder in third. Princess of Sylmar took up her customary position near the back of the six-horse field. As champion Royal Delta began to fade heading into the turn for home, Beholder and Close Hatches advanced, and at the top of the stretch Beholder kicked into high gear heading for the wire.
Close Hatches and Authenticity gave chase but Beholder was too much for her competition, pouring it on to win by 4 ¼ lengths and become only the second horse to win two different Breeders’ Cup races (a feat Secret Circle would match the next day). Royal Delta finished fourth, Princess of Sylmar never fired when finishing last, and suddenly Beholder was alone, once again, at the top of her division.
2013 BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF

Video courtesy Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Hall of Famer Mandella once again sung the filly’s praises after the race in an interview with The Blood-Horse.
“She’s so naturally fast, you don’t have to train that into her and she’s made the lead so easily in many of her races. Today she had to come from off of it and she did it, and boy do I love it. I’ve been lucky enough to have many good mares in my years of training, but this mare might have to be the best of all.”
After being named champion 3-year-old filly, Beholder was given a vacation, but was sidelined much of 2014 and managed only three starts, two of them wins. After a repeat tally in the Zenyatta Stakes, the filly was scheduled to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton November sale following the Breeders’ Cup, but a fever prevented her from running in the Distaff and she was scratched from the sale.
BEHOLDER AFTER HER 2013 BREEDERS' CUP WIN

In 2015 Beholder returned with a trio of wins, including a runaway seven-length victory in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch at over the new Del Mar dirt surface to gain the rare distinction of being a Grade 1 winner at age 2, 3, 4 and 5 and her greatest career performance was yet to come.
Always confident in their superstar mare, Mandella and Hughes were even more so after her romp in the Clement Hirsch and they decided her next race would come against the boys in the $1-million Pacific Classic. Not only would she face males for the first time, she would be running farther than she ever had before, 1 ¼ miles. No mare had ever won the race.
But Beholder rose to the challenge with a jaw-dropping performance. When the gates opened she stalked the pace set by 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern and Midnight Storm, and when the leaders faded on the far turn she took over. Beholder glided past her foes and galloped to an 8 ¼-length win. The superlatives flowed after the race, and Hughes was once again one of her boldest heralds, even saying that she might be the best horse ever.
“I've had a few good horses in the past, and I've always had a good time and enjoyed it, but she is the first horse that makes me feel lucky to be the owner," said Hughes to The Blood-Horse. "I've never had that feeling before. I think it's what you call pride.”
Beholder heads into this weekend’s Zenyatta Stakes a heavy favorite against her female competition, and the racing world awaits next month's Breeders' Cup and a potential start against American Pharoah in the Classic.