Beholder knocking rust off at farm

ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder, the two-time champion, arrived at trainer Richard Mandella’s stable at Santa Anita on Sunday following a two-month break in Kentucky. But it will be a short stay.

Mandella said on Wednesday that Beholder will spend the next two weeks at Julie Adair-Stack’s layup farm in Chino Hills, Calif., where she will begin light training.

“I’ll let her get the edge off there,” Mandella said.

Beholder will return to Mandella’s stable later this month and begin training for an expected comeback in the spring.

Earlier this week, Beholder was given a battery of tests and X-rays on her lungs. She was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland two days before the Oct. 31 race after she was found to have blood in her trachea and irritated lungs following a gallop.

“Everything checked out great,” Mandella said of the tests.

Owned by B. Wayne Hughes, Beholder, 6, has won 15 of 20 starts and earned $4,436,600. She was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012, champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, and is a leading candidate for the Eclipse Award as champion older female of 2015. The awards will be announced in Florida on Saturday evening.

Beholder was unbeaten in five starts in 2015, most notably a win against males by 8 1/4 lengths in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar.