Beholder's Grand Adventure

When an overnight rain left the main track at Keeneland sloppy Oct. 25, and track officials opted to seal it, Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella and his champion racemare Beholder went on a grand adventure.

The Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) contender left Barn 60 on Rice Road with exercise rider Janeen Painter in the irons and the pony by her side, but instead of turning right to head up to the big track, the 5-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes walked down to the synthetic training track for a strong gallop.

"It took me a little bit to remember that they had the nice synthetic track here, and what a blessing that was today," Mandella said. "The main track was pretty sloppy and muddy, and there's no sense going out there risking that, so the training track made a perfect plan. We gave her a nice, good gallop out there, about a mile and three quarters." 

NOVAK: Classic Contender Beholder Takes to Track

With just a few onlookers noticing her powerful strides over the smaller track, Beholder completed her morning training and then took a leisurely walk to the paddock, where a larger group of photographers and fans watched her school in and out of the saddling stalls before making her way up to the walking ring. Beholder has been known to act on the muscle but appears to be acclimating well to her new surroundings. 

"So far she has just embraced being here," Painter said. "She's enjoyed it, she enjoys the wide open spaces and even as far as the stress of the press being around constantly she is really handling it very well. I'm proud of her growing up that way.

"When she was 2, she had a lot of energy and things would set her off and she would get mad and she couldn't get over herself. One little thing and she would explode and it would escalate into a bigger explosion. But as she has gotten older and more mature, she may be upset but she doesn't let it come outward the way she used to when she was a baby."

In the walking ring, Beholder made several laps behind the pony and stopped to enjoy a few peppermints from her trainer's hand before exiting the way she entered.

"We spent a lot of quality time together," Mandella said with a smile, giving his charge's morning behavior a stamp of approval.

Winner of the 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and 2013 Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), Beholder is seeking to become the first horse to win three different Breeders' Cup races when she takes on the boys in the Oct. 31 Classic. The two-time Eclipse Award winner's showdown with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah looms after she soundly defeated males two starts back with an 8 1/4-length romp in the TVG Pacific Classic (gr. I), her first run away from her division and her first try at the 1 1/4-mile distance.