Watchmaker: Beholder continues to amaze

This Sunday morning notes missive from me has become something of a thing. And of course, on this Sunday, writing it in the morning means I’m filing it before American Pharoah competes in the Haskell in his first outing since completing his sweep of the Triple Crown. I’ll weigh in later on American Pharoah and the Haskell on DRF Live. But the stage was properly set for him thanks to a terrific Saturday of stakes racing.

No one was more terrific Saturday than Beholder. This 5-year-old was a champion at 2 and a champion at 3 and seems well on her way to another divisional title this year. In other words, Beholder has done a lot of important winning. But I doubt she was ever more impressive than she was winning the Clement L. Hirsch at Del Mar.

Beholder has beaten better fields before. But the ease with which she dismantled the seven lined up against her was incredibly compelling. And things got even headier in post-race comments when trainer Richard Mandella said Beholder might run back Aug. 22 in the Pacific Classic.

This was a fascinating revelation for a few reasons. For one, Beholder never has faced males, and she now has raced 18 times. In addition, the Pacific Classic is at 1 1/4 miles, and Beholder has raced as far as 1 1/8 miles only twice. She was caught by Princess of Sylmar in the Kentucky Oaks in her first attempt at nine furlongs but won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff going away in her second attempt at 1 1/8 miles later in 2013.

But one of the most interesting aspects to the possibility of Beholder racing in the Pacific Classic is Mandella also trains Catch a Flight. In his last five starts, Catch a Flight won the Precisionist, the Californian, and the San Diego Handicap (Del Mar’s stepping stone to the Pacific Classic) and finished third in the Big Cap and the Gold Cup at Santa Anita. Catch a Flight has as good a chance as any older male west of New Jersey to win the Pacific Classic. So it speaks volumes that Mandella would target the same race with as precious a commodity as Beholder.

Notes

** The Jim Dandy at Saratoga might have scratched down to only four, but it was a tremendous race, featuring two fine 3-year-olds in Texas Red and Frosted, with the former prevailing by a half-length.

Reasonable people will disagree over who was actually best in the Jim Dandy. Frosted, whose emergence as a force last spring came in concert with the commitment to a one-run closing style, certainly was at a disadvantage having Texas Red get first run and having to close into a slow pace. However, I still believe Texas Red was best. Texas Red drew the dirty-work trip of having to work to keep the pacesetter Japan at least a little honest up front. And don’t forget, Texas Red also wants to be a drop-back, one-run closer. He’s just the more versatile horse.

** Saturday’s other big 3-year-old race was the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer, and without wanting to take anything away from Madefromlucky’s victory, you really have to take the result with a grain of salt.

I don’t play Mountaineer, so Saturday’s races were the first I’ve seen from there since I guess last year’s West Virginia Derby. But it took no time at all to notice how profoundly dead the inside was on the main track there. I mean, the first three paths or so were just absolute death to any horse who ventured there. Check out Iron Fist’s performance in the West Virginia Derby. He was making what looked like a winning move between horses into the stretch, moved down inside, and totally floundered. And there were others like him earlier on the card.

** The male sprint division was prominent Saturday. Rock Fall and The Big Beast conspired for a thrilling Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga. The former, whom I had ranked as the top male sprinter in the country going in, emerged narrowly the best. But there is no doubt there is very little between these two.

Work All Week, the reigning male sprint champ, got his 2015 back on track with an easy, confidence-building win in the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial at Mountaineer. Work All Week laid over his field to such an extent that he probably could have run in the quicksand down inside and still romped, but he stayed well removed from the inside.

Finally, Holy Boss made a good case for being the top 3-year-old male sprinter with a decisive score in Saratoga’s Amsterdam. There still is a distinct gap between him and the likes of Rock Fall and The Big Beast, but Holy Boss still has a license to improve.