The Kentucky Derby is not only a test of speed and stamina – it is a test of mental fortitude for a young horse, with the pressure cooker culminating in the “wall of sound” as the field turns for home in front of more than 160,000 at Churchill Downs. Mendelssohn has shown the speed and stamina, and his breeders think he has the mental fortitude to handle the stress of the May 5 Derby. Mendelssohn and his half-sister Beholder, a four-time Eclipse Award winner, were bred by the Clarkland Farm owned by Fred and Nancy Mitchell. Nancy's daughter Marty Buckner, the yearling manager for Clarkland, remembers Mendelssohn’s composure when he was being shown at the Keeneland September yearling sale. “He’d walk, get to the end of the ring and take a deep breath, he’d turn and just exhale, and walk right back at everyone,” Buckner said. “Really a star. “Both Mendelssohn and Beholder had a lot of confidence. Whenever they were asked to do something new, they rose to the occasion. . . . They didn’t have any quit to them.” :: Get breeding & sales news, Beyer info, and more delivered right to your email! Buckner spoke while keeping an eye on Leslie’s Lady, the dam of Mendelssohn, Beholder, and Grade 1 winner Into Mischief. The 2016 Broodmare of the Year, Leslie’s Lady was nursing her newborn filly, by none other than Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. “She’s a good mother,” Buckner said. “She takes good care of them, which is important. I think [mares] kind of teach them things.” Leslie’s Lady, a stakes-winning daughter of Tricky Creek, was campaigned by James T. Hines Jr. and began her broodmare career for his operation. Her first two foals, Judy B (by Marquetry) and Louis the Bold (Orientate), were winners. Hines died in February 2006 and his stock was dispersed, with Leslie’s Lady going to the ring at the 2006 Keeneland November breeding stock sale on behalf of his estate. At the time, the mare had a yearling colt by Harlan’s Holiday who was a pinhook prospect. She had delivered a Yankee Victor filly earlier that year, and was carrying an Orientate filly. Clarkland took home Leslie’s Lady for a relatively-modest $100,000, and her stock immediately skyrocketed. The following March, Spendthrift Farm owner B. Wayne Hughes purchased her Harlan’s Holiday colt for $180,000 in Ocala, Fla. That colt was Into Mischief, and by the end of the year a score in the CashCall Futurity had made him a Grade 1 winner. Now a successful sire at Spendthrift, he will be represented in the Kentucky Derby by Audible. Following Into Mischief, Leslie’s Lady foaled Victory Party and Daisy Mason, both unraced. Clarkland got the winning One World (Rockport Harbor) and the placed Florida Holiday (Harlan’s Holiday) out of Leslie’s Lady. They sent the mare to Henny Hughes in 2009, and she produced a filly whom Spendthrift snapped up for $180,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale. That filly was Beholder. Beholder earned Eclipse Awards as the outstanding 2-year-old female of 2012, 3-year-old female of 2013, and older female of 2015 and 2016. She bankrolled $6,156,600 while winning 11 Grade 1 stakes, including a trio of Breeders’ Cup races – the 2012 Juvenile Fillies, 2013 Distaff, and, in a dramatic conclusion to her career, the 2016 Distaff by a nose over Songbird. Other career highlights included an 8 1/4-length victory over males in the 2015 Pacific Classic. “I’ve had a lot of great horses, but not like this,” Hughes said. “I don’t think this will ever happen to me again.” In 2011, Leslie’s Lady delivered Curlin to Mischief (Curlin), who was unraced after injuring himself in a stall accident. Two years later, she produced a full sister, Leslie’s Harmony, who sold for $1.1 million as a yearling but never won. In 2014, she delivered an Eskendereya filly, then was bred to the good young sire Scat Daddy. The Eskendereya filly became ill with colic and died. Leslie’s Lady accompanied her ailing foal to the clinic, and the stress of the trip caused her to lose the Scat Daddy foal she was carrying. Although it was now late in the season, she was bred back to Scat Daddy – and got in foal from the stallion’s penultimate crop. That Scat Daddy foal turned out to be Mendelssohn, who was born on May 17, 2015 – a late foal like Beholder, who arrived on May 9. It did nothing to deter shoppers at Keeneland September, as Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier went to a sale-topping $3 million for Mendelssohn. “I was very surprised by the price,” Fred Mitchell said at the time. “I thought he might be the highest price of the sale, but we were hoping to get a million and a half. Double that is unbelievable. He is an unbelievable individual with a great disposition and mind that you dream to have. He had a special look in his eye from the time he was 2 months old.” :: Get both the Kentucky Derby and Oaks Clocker Reports for just $19.95! Mendelssohn won last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, then handled a switch to dirt with aplomb as he romped in the UAE Derby to punch his ticket home to Kentucky. “He is naturally quick and has a lot of tactical early speed,” trainer Aidan O’Brien said. “He is very well bred, he has a great physique, and you can see why he cost the lads a lot of money at the sales.” After getting a year off following Mendelssohn’s delivery, Leslie’s Lady delivered a Medaglia d’Oro colt in April 2017. He is scheduled to be offered at the Keeneland September yearling sale. “He’s doing well,” Buckner said. “He’s happy, he’s healthy, he’s nice. I think he has a lot of his mother in him – he’s a nice mix of the two.” Meanwhile, while plans have not been determined for the new American Pharoah foal, she may end up following Leslie’s Lady in the Clarkland broodmare band.