Beholder Fires Bullet, Ready to Rumble

The queen of Southern California racing is ready to rumble.

Spendthrift Farm's Beholder threw down a warning to her rivals May 25 at Santa Anita Park, when she clocked a five-furlong bullet in :59 2/5 and earned the "breezing" tag rarely awarded on the South California circuit. 

"We let her show off a little bit this morning, but nothing that would surprise us," Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella said. "​I would expect this to be one of her better performances—which it would need to be, because better horses intend to run. And that's pretty much how we've gone about our business of getting her ready."

Grade I winners Stellar Wind and Taris will provide Beholder with the strongest competition she's had since she took on males in the Pacific Classic (gr. I) last year. They'll be awaiting when she steps back up to grade I company in the $400,000 Vanity Mile June 4, which has been renamed and shortened a furlong.

Stellar Wind will make her 2016 debut after finishing a championship campaign with a runner-up finish in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), and Taris won the May 6 Humana Distaff (gr. I) at Churchill Downs last time out. Both breezed well in their preparations for the Vanity, with Stellar Wind clocking six furlongs in 1:13 3/5 May 22 and Taris going four furlongs in :49 2/5 May 20.

But Wednesday morning, 6-year-old Beholder left no question as to her dominance.

"As a matter of fact, we gave her an easy half (:48 1/5 May 19) just to get her legs stretched a little bit last week," Mandella said. "Today we let her tighten up, because I want her a little sharp for the mile."

"She's really just become so professional about everything," Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey added. "She's very much push-button, and she's enjoying herself. They don't come along like that very often. It looks like Richard sharpened her up a bit, and hopefully we're going to see a nice performance coming up. 

"We've gotten all the highs with her, but gotten some lows, too. We certainly can't complain—she's been very, very good to us. She owes us nothing. If everything isn't just right, she won't run at any given time, but the breeze this morning certainly looked right to me."

Last year, Beholder won the Pacific Classic in her first and only start so far against males. Her connections haven't ruled out a title defense, but have learned to take things day-by-day after she missed not only the Breeders' Cup Classic, but a Breeders' Cup Distaff title defense in 2014.

BALAN: Beholder Blows Away Pacific Classic Foes

​"I would say anything is possible for her, but we take it a race at a time," Mandella said. "She's just a horse, and we're going to take it at her pace. But so far, that pace is moving right along."

"We've certainly learned we can't think too far ahead," Toffey said. "There's so many good horses out there, and we've got respect for all of them, but they've got to have respect for her. There's a lot of really good fillies there in her own division, there's taking on colts again—all kinds of exciting options out there. 

"The great thing with Richard is, he's such a good caretaker, and he puts the horse first. All those options are on the table, but we generally are going to defer to Richard's jugement on these things, because he's very good at making those decisions and he's the guy with his hands on her every day. We're always putting Beholder first. She really seems to enjoy her routine and enjoy what she does, and as long as she keeps on doing that, we'll keep all those options open."