Stevens has a thing for Beholder

DEL MAR, Calif. – A couple of days before the race season started at Del Mar, jockey Gary Stevens wandered into the stable area with a bucket filled with peppermints that said “Beholder” on it and made a beeline for trainer Richard Mandella’s barn, where he spends a lot of time these days.

When out in the mornings to work horses, Stevens will wear his riding helmet, but otherwise, he’s found under a ballcap that says “Beholder.” And when Stevens was honored by the track as the jockey of the week for winning two stakes on opening weekend, he showed up in the winner’s circle for the presentation wearing the silks of B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm, which owns Beholder.

In this season of electioneering, Stevens has cast his lot as a delegate. Beholder for president!

“When I get on her, even for a workout, it’s just special, to feel that power,” Stevens said on a recent morning at Del Mar. “She can go 58 [seconds] easy, and you know you’ve got a whole bunch more there.”

Stevens has ridden Beholder in 12 of her last 13 races, beginning nearly two years ago; they own 11 victories together. They will try to add to that total Saturday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, the championship race of the meet for older females. Beholder won the Hirsch last year en route to a victory against males in the Pacific Classic, and the same schedule is planned for her this year.

Beholder is unquestionably the best horse Stevens currently rides. She’s top of mind for sure. Last week, when Stevens was caught in the starting gate with an unruly filly who banged him into the side of the gate before he was able to scramble out the back, “all that was going through my head was Beholder,” he said.

At age 53, more than three years into a comeback after a seven-year retirement, and two years after undergoing a full replacement of his right knee, Stevens has settled into the race-riding schedule that only the likes of Mike Smith can get away with, choosing quality far more than quantity. He said riding horses such as Beholder “is the reason I do it.”

“I’m having a lot of fun now,” Stevens said. “Going through what I went through – between retiring and then the knee and not knowing what kind of success I’d have – it’s a kick.”

He gets a charge out of the big races. On Sunday morning, after dropping a close call the previous day aboard Dortmund against California Chrome in the San Diego Handicap, Stevens said the race was fun, even in defeat.

“It’s the second time I’ve been in a race like that, where I finished second in an epic race but wasn’t disappointed I didn’t win because I knew my horse had run so well,” he said. “The other time was 1988, Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Winning Colors against Personal Ensign.”

The gamesmanship in the race left him excited. Victor Espinoza, cognizant of the fight that Dortmund has, had steered California Chrome away from Dortmund in upper stretch. Stevens – who was on the wrong end of Dortmund’s tenacity when Dortmund beat Firing Line in the 2015 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita – guided Dortmund over toward California Chrome, and Dortmund surged anew.

“I thought I was going to come back and nail him,” Stevens said.

A few strides after they passed under the wire, Espinoza and Stevens reached out and touched whips, without, Stevens said, ever saying a word.

“Just respect on both our parts for a hell of a race,” Stevens said.

His current schedule leaves him more time to loiter at Mandella’s barn, to hang out with Beholder and to observe Mandella – like Stevens a Hall of Famer – practice his craft.

“I’m learning, watching how Dick does things,” Stevens said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with some great trainers. He’s beyond meticulous.”

Beholder is spoiled by both Stevens and Mandella. It’s amazing she’s not a diabetic, considering all the peppermints she gets. “I’ll feed her one if she hasn’t had 40 of them already,” Stevens said.

Beholder is a curious mare, always found at the front of her stall. “It’s like having a good pet around,” Stevens said. “She wants to know what’s going on all around her.”

Stevens has grown attached to Beholder, and Beholder to him. “When she hears my voice, she swells up. She knows something’s up,” Stevens said. “That’s why I didn’t work her for her final work. Her ears are like radar. Winning Colors was like that. She swells up. She loves her work.”

So, too, does her jockey.