Stellar Wind to Challenge Beholder Again

The entry begged the question after Stellar Wind's second-place run to Beholder last time out in the Vanity Mile (gr. I) June 4.

Spendthrift Farm's Beholder, the three-time champion and reigning super mare on the West Coast, only bested fellow Eclipse Award winner Stellar Wind by 1 1/2 lengths, but was never seriously threatened by the 2015 champion 3-year-old filly, who was making her 4-year-old debut.

BALAN: Beholder Dominates Again at Santa Anita

So why try again with Stellar Wind against Beholder, who has been untouchable in her last eight starts, in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch (gr. I) July 30 at Del Mar?

For Kosta Hronis, who owns the Curlin   filly under the flag of Hronis Racing, a lot goes into it.

The most measured answer is, with the Breeders' Cup in Southern California, he and trainer John Sadler wanted to keep Stellar Wind at home to best prepare for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), a race she ran second in last year, a neck behind Stopchargingmaria.

But it also comes down to pride, confidence, and competition. Southern California is Hronis and Sadler's home, and they'll take their chances on their turf rather than shipping to another racetrack to find a softer spot.

"We really like our horse and we look forward to running against Beholder, who I feel is the best horse in the country," Hronis said. "I saw her manhandle the boys last year in the Pacific Classic (gr. I).

"She's scary good, but this is why we race. We're Californians. This is where we run, this is where we live, this is where we're at. To be in the race with Beholder is an honor. It's an honor to think she has a shot here, and we feel that way."

By all accounts, Stellar Wind will need her best shot or better to take down Beholder, who has shown no signs of regression as a 6-year-old, and even inspired her Hall of Fame trainer to break out into song after her last workout at Del Mar. The two champions will break from inside posts in the field of five, with Beholder drawing the rail and Stellar Wind just to her right.

BALAN: Beholder Brilliant in Del Mar Breeze

"In a lot of ways, she's gotten better every year," trainer Richard Mandella said after the workout. "She still has an ornery streak, but that could be part of why she's so good."

The two champions will draw the lion's share of attention in the 1 1/16-mile Hirsch, but a new and intriguing potential contender has arrived from South America in Don Alberto Stable's The Dream.

The Chilean-bred daughter of Scat Daddy   has never finished worse than second in seven starts on dirt in her home country. Included in her five wins is a pair of group I victories and a pair of group II scores, all on dirt. Now trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, the 4-year-old filly is young on Southern Hemisphere time with an August birth in 2012.

Completing the field is graded stakes-placed Off the Road, who is exiting turf races for Mandella, and last-out Southern Truce Stakes winner Divina Comedia, who finished fifth in the Vanity.