Beholder scores easy win in Adoration for 10th career stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder is back on top of California’s older female division after a comfortable win Saturday in the $100,250 Adoration Stakes at Santa Anita, her 10th career stakes win.

Beholder ($2.40) stalked the pacesetter My Monet to the turn, led by 1 1/2 lengths in the stretch, and won by 1 1/4 lengths over Warren’s Veneda, a Grade 1 winner earlier this year. Warren’s Veneda, a three-time stakes winner this year, was the biggest threat to Beholder.

The win was easy on Beholder, jockey Gary Stevens said.

“I rode her like she was the best mare out there,” Stevens said. “She does things so naturally.”

Beholder was timed in 1:41.67 for 1 1/16 miles, winning for the 12th time in her 17-race career. The only excitement occurred in the stretch when Warren’s Veneda got within 1 1/2 lengths of Beholder and when Beholder drifted off the rail slightly in the last sixteenth.

“She was comfortable going into the stretch,” Stevens said. “She was playing around a bit. She shied away from the rail. It was a relatively easy win for her.”

Warren’s Veneda, who won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational in March, finished 7 1/4 lengths clear of My Monet, a 16-1 shot. Wild in the Saddle was fourth, followed by Grandiose Tactics and Oscar Party.

The second-place finish by Warren’s Veneda was an improvement from a disappointing third-place finish as the 1-10 favorite in the four-runner Vanity Stakes, a Grade 1 for fillies and mares May 9. Warren’s Veneda was third on the backstretch in the Grade 3 Adoration but could not reach Beholder.

“The other mare is sensational,” said Craig Lewis, who trains Warren’s Veneda.

Beholder has won her last three starts, a streak that includes the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes here last September and the restricted Santa Lucia Stakes here in April. She missed two races because of illness in the last year – the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here last October and the Vanity Stakes last month.

Beholder is a two-time champion as the outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2012 and 3-year-old filly of 2013.

By Henny Hughes, Beholder races for B. Wayne Hughes and trainer Richard Mandella. She has earned $3,476,600.

“You can’t complain about a couple of missteps,” Mandella said of the illnesses. “She’s done so much.”

Aside from her short win payoff, Beholder was a massive favorite in the show pool. She drew $270,173 of the $322,788 bet to show. Beholder paid $2.10 to show.