It’s understandable if some folks wondered, after Unique Bella won Saturday’s Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita, if last year’s champion female sprinter might have been sending signals that she has some distance limitations. After all, the unheralded La Force, who after 19 starts going into the Beholder Mile was still eligible to a second-level allowance race, slashed 4 1/4 lengths off the advantage Unique Bella had at the top of the stretch to finish second, losing by a diminishing 2 1/4 lengths. Well, maybe Unique Bella does have distance limitations. It’s difficult to know for certain because she has not yet had the opportunity to race beyond 1 1/16 miles. However, if Unique Bella does have a limit as to how far she can effectively perform – a giant “if” in my mind – the Beholder Mile was definitely not the race that proved it. The Beholder Mile was the third and last main track route on Saturday’s Santa Anita card, and fortunately, we can make an apples-to-apples comparison as the first two routes were also one-mile races. Race 2, an $8,000 claimer, was won in wire-to-wire fashion after fractions of 24.06 seconds, 48.45, and 1:12.86. Race 4, a $50,000 starter allowance race, had fractions of 23.34, 46.92, and 1:11.88, and was won from off the pace. By contrast, Unique Bella disputed Beholder Mile fractions of 22.51, 44.96, and 1:09.34. Of course, given the huge class disparity over the first two routes on the day, the pace in the Beholder Mile should have been faster. But even allowing for that, the Beholder Mile pace was still scorching. It is very much to Unique Bella’s credit that she not only survived that demanding pace, but also won clear after engaging in it. Perhaps Unique Bella would have won Saturday with more style points had she not engaged in that early pace battle with Paradise Woods. But I don’t blame Unique Bella’s jockey Mike Smith one bit for taking the approach he did. The book on Paradise Woods is she is at her very best when allowed to control the early pace. That’s what she did in last year’s Santa Anita Oaks, and she romped by almost 12 lengths over Abel Tasman, who went on to be voted last year’s champion 3-year-old filly. Paradise Woods also controlled the pace in the Zenyatta last fall, and she won that by the length of the stretch, too. That’s why it was so disappointing to see Paradise Woods concede the early lead in the subsequent Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a lead she could have commanded. She wound up third in that one after never really being given her best chance. Anyway, that used to be the book on Paradise Woods. With the way she caved through the stretch in the Beholder Mile – she was beaten almost eight lengths – Paradise Woods seems far removed from her best 2017 form. Mike Smith couldn’t have been sure of that, though, and he did what he had to do with Unique Bella Saturday to ensure they would get the job done. There will be easier trips for Unique Bella in future races. That is when we will get an accurate read on her distance capabilities. ** Catholic Boy was a revelation moving back to turf in Saturday’s Pennine Ridge at Belmont Park. And I say that being fully aware of how good Catholic Boy was on turf at the outset of his career last year. He won the With Anticipation in his second start and was a fine fourth after trouble in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Okay, a lot of horses had trouble in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. But Catholic Boy still finished fourth, one length ahead of Masar, who won a little race on Saturday named the Epsom Derby. Catholic Boy was given a shot on dirt in the Remsen, and after he ran away with that, his connections understandably went at least partway down the Road to the Kentucky Derby. When that didn’t work out, it was wisely back to turf on Saturday. But what was so jaw-dropping about Catholic Boy’s Pennine Ridge win was the way he came back on Analyze It late. Analyze It looked like he might be the best 3-year-old turf horse in the world when he won the Transylvania in his 2018 bow, his third blowout win from as many starts. And it looked like Analyze It was on his way to another commanding score in the Pennine Ridge at 1-5 when, after some bumping and intimidation with the pacesetting Catholic Boy in upper stretch, he took over with authority. In light of how dazzling Analyze It had been, in light of the trips, in light of everything, it was shocking to see Analyze It seemingly give out soon after he cleared, and to see Catholic Boy, who had apparently been left for dead, prove resurgent under Javier Castellano (who, by the way, rode like a man possessed Saturday at Belmont), and get back up in ample time. There is a lot to unpack from this Pennine Ridge. ** There was no ambiguity concerning Hawkish’s victory in Saturday’s Penn Mile at Penn National. Hawkish took the worst of it rallying four wide on the far turn and compromised his momentum lugging in in upper stretch – he’s still a bit green; this was only his fourth career start – and yet he still blew his field off the track through the stretch, a field that included recent American Turf winner Maraud. Officially, Hawkish scored by three, but he was far more dominant than that. And the strong sense is Hawkish will only get better with racing. For what it’s worth, trainer Jimmy Toner spoke in glowing terms of Hawkish both before and after the Penn Mile. As one who has trained such standout turf performers as Soaring Softly, Memories of Silver, Winter Memories, and Wonder Again, Toner has a perspective that merits respect. The one weird aspect to the Penn Mile is, if the Penn National teletimer is to be believed, Hawkish’s final time of 1:35.16 was .40 seconds slower than the 3-year-old fillies went in the Penn Oaks two races earlier after comparable early paces. The reason why I call this weird is visually, the Penn Mile looked like the much, much stronger race.