Beholder to Return to Mandella in January
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Beholder with trainer Richard Mandella.
Still turned out and getting some much-deserved rest at Peacefield Farm in Temecula, Calif., Spendthrift Farm's Beholder is expected to return to the barn of Richard Mandella soon, the trainer said Dec. 30 at Santa Anita Park.
"We'll bring her back somewhere the first or second week of January and start pointing her to the races, but it'll be a little while," Mandella said.
A nine-time grade I winner and an overwhelming favorite to win her third Eclipse Award in her third different division, the daughter of Henny Hughes' 2015 season ended on a down note when she bled following a workout at Keeneland and had to be scratched from the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I).
MITCHELL: Beholder Scratched Out of BC Classic
The highly anticipated showdown with American Pharoah may not have happened, but the mare was untouchable during her 5-year-old campaign, winning all five of her races, including the Adoration (gr. III), Clement L. Hirsch (gr. I), Zenyatta (gr. I), and the TVG Pacific Classic (gr. I) against males.
BALAN: Beholder Blows Away Pacific Classic Foes
"She's just right at about two months (off) coming up," Mandella said of Beholder's layoff. "We will get her just a bit more than that, bring her in, and check her out (in a couple weeks)."