Mike Smith to ride Beholder

DEL MAR, Calif. - Mike Smith will be the new rider for two-time champion Beholder, who continued her preparation for a return to action with a seven-furlong workout in 1:24 on Monday morning at Del Mar.

Gary Stevens had been the regular rider for Beholder, but he is sidelined after knee replacement surgery. Smith is the leading stakes rider this summer at Del Mar, with his victories including the John Mabee with Moulin de Mougin, who like Beholder is trained by Richard Mandella.
Mandella after the work on Monday said Smith would have the mount on Beholder. Mandella said he was pointing Beholder for the Grade 1 Zenyatta at Santa Anita on Sept. 27. Beholder won that race last year as a final prep before her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Mandella said he had explored running Beholder at Del Mar, but said, “I’d rather let her come around.”

Beholder has not raced since being injured in the Ogden Phipps in New York on the Belmont Stakes undercard in June.

In Monday’s workout, Beholder started five lengths behind a workmate and effortlessly cruised past. Track clockers had her galloping out a mile in 1:38.60.