Female 2015 champs work up for July races

ARCADIA, Calif. - The 2015 female champions Beholder, Songbird, and Stellar Wind had workouts Sunday for races in July.

Not all of the race plans have been finalized.

Beholder, the champion older female of 2015, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds, which equaled the fifth-fastest of 107 works at the distance. She is scheduled to start in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar on July 30.

The time of the workout was quicker than trainer Richard Mandella expected.

“She got separated from her company and she had to catch up,” Mandella said. “For her, it wasn’t that hard.”

Beholder won the Grade 1 Vanity Mile on June 4 in her last start, beating Stellar Wind.

Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80. Trainer John Sadler said the Hirsch is a possibility for Stellar Wind along with races on the East Coast.

Songbird, the unbeaten champion 2-year-old filly last year, worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds under jockey Mike Smith. Songbird won her eighth race in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks on June 18.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said the $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on July 24 is a possibility for Songbird, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland last October.