Beholder getting beat, but not slowing down

ARCADIA, Calif. – For most of her career, Beholder was automatic.

She won 17 of her first 22 races, including Grade 1 stakes for five straight years. She won three championships and was practically unbeatable at Santa Anita, where she won 13 of her first 14 starts.

“There haven’t been many as good, for as long, as her,” Beholder’s trainer Richard Mandella said early Sunday morning. “I’m not going to complain.”

At age 6, Beholder is no longer automatic. She had won the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes three straight years at Santa Anita, but she lost the race on Saturday. Beholder finished second to the outstanding 4-year-old filly Stellar Wind.

It is unusual for Beholder to get beat. Until this year, she had never lost consecutive starts. Now she has lost three in a row – runner-up twice to Stellar Wind and once to California Chrome.

If wins and losses were the only measure of ability, one might conclude Beholder is slowing down. However, the numbers suggest she is as good as ever. The 110 Beyer Figure that Beholder earned Saturday was the second-highest of her career.

“I guess after you’re beaten a third time, you have to think maybe we’re not as good as we used to be,” Mandella said. “But I don’t see it. Being around her, we think she’s the same.”

Beholder’s final times and corresponding speed figures support Mandella. And it’s not like she has been facing inferior competition. Stellar Wind is a vastly improved filly at age 4. And in both recent wins, she had a better trip than Beholder.

Gary Stevens, Beholder’s regular rider the last four years, was as crestfallen as Mandella.

“It’s tough to get beat on her,” Stevens said immediately after the race. “Unfortunately three losses in a row, and it’s tough for a champion. She’s pretty special to me.”

Stevens addressed Beholder’s trip – setting the pace inside and under pressure the entire race. It was a similar trip she had in summer when Stellar Wind defeated her at Del Mar. From the inside post, Stevens and Beholder had no option Saturday but to go.

“Nothing really went wrong, except I was on the lead and a sitting duck once again,” Stevens said. “No pace except for me, and realistic fractions.”

Beholder has been most effective with a stalking or pressing trip, rather than setting the pace under pressure. A stalking trip is one Stevens, Mandella, and owner B. Wayne Hughes will hope she gets next out. The Breeders’ Cup Distaff is her next start “unless we see a reason not to,” Mandella said.

Beholder will walk Sunday and Monday, pony Tuesday and Wednesday, and resume galloping Thursday or Friday.

At 6 a.m. on Sunday, Mandella was happy that Beholder appeared to come out of her race in good shape. But he was sad she lost.

“It hurts to see her lose, she tries so hard,” Mandella said. “It’s kind of become a love affair … her and us. Not just me, but everybody.”