ARCADIA, Calif. – If the Grade 1 Beholder Mile is any indication, California’s top dirt female will be tested more forcefully in 2024 than 2023. It starts Saturday at Santa Anita. Adare Manor, a front-runner who often benefited by soft pace scenarios, returns from a winter break as the most accomplished runner in the $300,000 Beholder Mile, race 8. But there’s a catch. Her rivals include a fast sprinter whose weapon is speed. The pace might not be so soft. Sweet Azteca, a two-time winner from three starts, all sprints, will give Adare Manor all she can handle early. The question is, will Sweet Azteca stick around late? Trainer Michael McCarthy votes yes. “Just seems like in her gallops and in her works, and the way she’s made, that a mile wouldn’t be much of an issue,” McCarthy said. “Her work the other day, and her gallop-out, seemed to suggest [a mile] is probably within her scope.” Morning workouts are one thing, afternoon races another, particularly in a field with Adare Manor and Desert Dawn, California’s two top dirt females. The field also includes stakes-winning shippers Green Up and Interstatedaydream, local stakes winners Kirstenbosch and Window Shopping, Coffee in Bed, and Turnerloose. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Adare Manor is the best horse, but she won’t get an easy lead and the Beholder is her first start in four months. “She’s as ready as I can get her without running,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She’s ready to do something. She’s pretty fresh. She’s been ready for the past few weeks.” During an outstanding 2023 campaign, Adare Manor usually had things her way – slow pace, easy lead, long gone. It worked often in a 5-for-7 season that included wins in a Grade 1 and three Grade 2s. But on Saturday, Adare Manor faces a serious pace rival. And though she has won from slightly off the pace, Adare Manor’s style is to be forwardly placed. “She’s going to come out running, that’s her, that’s what she likes to do,” Baffert said. It will be up to jockey Juan Hernandez to ration Adare Manor’s speed. A 5-year-old with seven wins from 14 starts, Adare Manor is owned by Michael Lund Petersen. If she starts favored, Adare Manor will have history on her side. Since the Beholder shortened to a mile in 2016, favorites are 5 for 8. This year’s nine-runner field would be the biggest in that period. As for Sweet Azteca, the plan to stretch out was formulated by McCarthy and owner-breeder Pam Ziebarth prior to her most recent start Feb. 2, an entry-level allowance sprint. Sweet Azteca won by 12 lengths and has done everything right since. “She’s had plenty of miles [gallops] underneath her, so it’s not like we need to do a whole lot different,” McCarthy said. “She’s getting enough out of her gallops and her works that she’s fit enough to get a mile.” Sweet Azteca is by Sharp Azteca, a Grade 1 winner at one turn. Sweet Azteca’s dam was a pure sprinter. Nonetheless, Sweet Azteca and jockey Flavien Prat could be gone. But can a horse win a Grade 1 mile off an entry-level allowance sprint? McCarthy already did it. In 2020, Ce Ce stretched out from an entry-level sprint and won the Beholder by more than three lengths. Desert Dawn finished in the money but behind Adare Manor their first three meetings last year. Desert Dawn has changed since. “She has become more tactical, she’s not a one-run closer,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. She was often compromised by slow fractions last year, but in recent starts has been forwardly placed. Furthermore, Desert Dawn has a recent-racing advantage. Following her fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Desert Dawn finished second in the Grade 3 Bayakoa at Los Alamitos and won the Grade 3 La Canada Stakes on Jan. 20 at Santa Anita. Desert Dawn, an Arizona-bred owned by mother-daughter breeders Elena and Hollie Crim, has won 3 of 19 starts. Antonio Fresu rides her in the Beholder, which could set up for an off-the-pace runner. “She’s more mature, and hopefully getting better with age,” D’Amato said. Although he believes she is less pace-dependent, D’Amato acknowledged “the addition of pace would help her.” :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Green Up and Interstatedaydream, based in Florida with trainer Todd Pletcher, shipped in. Green Up has won 5 of 8 and seeks her first graded stakes under John Velazquez. Interstatedaydream won 7 of 14 for trainer Brad Cox. The Grade 2 winner was purchased last fall for $1.4 million by owner Mike Repole. Frankie Dettori rides. Before the Beholder was renamed, it was the Vanity. Richard Mandella won it in 2016, the first year it was one mile. His winner was Beholder; the race was renamed the following year. Mandella starts two Saturday – recent Grade 2 runner-up Coffee in Bed and comebacker Window Shopping. John Sadler trains Kirstenbosch, who prefers one turn, though last winter she won the two-turn La Canada. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.