With the heat on, Mandella keeps his cool with Beholder

ARCADIA, Calif. – It turns out that trainer Richard Mandella had a reason not to discuss the summer campaign for Beholder until after the Vanity Stakes on June 4. It was because Mandella seriously considered bringing Beholder back three weeks later for the Grade 1 Gold Cup on June 25 at Santa Anita, but he first wanted to see how she came out of the Vanity.

That plan was shelved immediately after Beholder won the Vanity in temperatures that reached the mid-90s. It would have been asking too much to bring her back in three weeks against colts and geldings after running in extreme heat.

Instead, Mandella said he will run Beholder in two races that she won last year: the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch on July 30 at Del Mar, followed by the Grade 1 Pacific Classic there on Aug. 20.

“She won easy, but the heat, you could see in her eyes after the race she was [tired],” Mandella said. “Because of the heat, I’m not going to entertain the idea of the Gold Cup. It would have been the Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic, but I’m going to go back to the Hirsch.”

◗ Trainer Phil D’Amato, who leads the meet’s trainer standings by nine wins with a 17-for-63 record through Friday, mapped out stakes plans for several leading runners. Obviously runs next Saturday in the Grade 3 Poker at Belmont; Be Mine runs next Sunday in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita; Wild About Deb runs June 25 in the $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown; and Enola Gray runs July 22 in the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar. D’Amato will have at least two in the Summertime Oaks next Saturday – Bellamentary and Coppa.