Beholder may challenge males after Clement Hirsch romp
DEL MAR, Calif. - This bonus season of racing for Beholder is only enhancing her lofty reputation.
Saturday, Beholder won the 11th stakes of her career in the $300,750 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, pulling clear from seven overmatched rivals to win by seven lengths. The win stretched her winning streak to four races, and left owner B. Wayne Hughes and trainer Richard Mandella contemplating a first-ever start against males for the 5-year-old Beholder in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 22, the track’s richest race.
“It’s in the back of my mind,” Mandella said. “The timing is good and there is enough time between that and the Breeders’ Cup. We’ll see how she looks in the next three weeks.”
The Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Oct. 30 is a long-term goal for Beholder.
The field for the Pacific Classic is still in the blueprint stage. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the race could include American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner who is scheduled to start in Sunday’s $1.75 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Asked if the presence of American Pharoah in the Pacific Classic would have an influence on Beholder’s presence, Mandella was quick with an answer.
“I hope we don’t scare him off,” he said.
Beholder ($2.60) ran 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch in 1:43.81. Ridden by Gary Stevens, Beholder broke from the rail and was never far from the front. She stalked the pace on the first turn while running in third, and made a three-wide move on the backstretch to reach the lead with a half-mile remaining.
“I’m glad she was able to get off the inside,” Mandella said. “It looked like poetry on the backstretch.”
The early pace was modest. My Sweet Addiction led through an opening quarter-mile of 23.91 seconds, and was a head behind Honey Ride when that filly reached the first half-mile in 47.86 seconds. Stevens said he decided to make a move at that point.
“I was sitting behind a wickedly slow pace,” he said. “I had a gap and her acceleration is so good.
“She’s just amazing. It’s scary. In her works since her last race, she keeps improving, maybe getting better.”
Yahilwa, a 13-1 shot who raced wide throughout, finished second, 4 1/4 lengths in front of Warren’s Veneda, an 8-1 shot who won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in March. My Sweet Addiction, the winner of the Grade 1 Vanity Stakes at Santa Anita in May, finished fourth, followed by Honey Ride, My Monet, Legacy, and Thegirlinthatsong.
Beholder earned $180,000 in the Clement Hirsch, and has won 13 of 18 starts and earned $3,656,600. She was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2013. Beholder was meant to be retired to be sold and bred at the end of 2014, but Hughes and Mandella opted to keep her in training after she became ill and missed the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita last November.