McCarthy stays hot with Beholder Mile victory

Towards the end of the Del Mar summer season last year, trainer Michael McCarthy was struggling through the worst drought of his career since he had gone on his own.

“Just taking my beating like a man,” McCarthy ruefully replied one morning when asked how he was doing.

He finished the season with one win in 44 starts, with just six runners finishing in the money, a far cry from the solid season he had at Del Mar in the summer of 2018, when he went 7 for 36.

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Those fallow days of last summer are long gone now. McCarthy is having a sensational meeting at Santa Anita, where on Saturday he won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile with Ce Ce.

That victory was his 11th in 45 starts this meet, placing him sixth in the standings in wins. His runners have earned more than $700,000, putting him ninth in that category.

“We suffered through a bad summer. Horses got sick, skin disease,” McCarthy said. “Just had to take our lumps. It wears on you. They had time-consuming injuries. But you have to do what’s right, not force the issue. We’re seeing the fruits of that now. Have to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Ce Ce has a story arc mirroring McCarthy’s barn over the past year. After getting off to a promising start last year, she was injured shortly after competing in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes in June and was one of the many horses of his who needed time off during the period he struggled. She returned last month and won an allowance race at Santa Anita, then won the Beholder Mile, part of McCarthy’s resurgence the first part of this year.