Beholder Proves Easily Best in Zenyatta

After putting in one of the most spectacular performances of the season when defeating males in the GI Pacific Classic Aug. 22, Beholder (Henny Hughes) easily captured her third straight renewal of Santa Anita’s GI Zenyatta S. in what was the equivalent of a paid workout. With this victory, the two-time champion earned an all expenses paid trip to Keeneland for the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff, which she won in 2013 and was forced to miss last year due to illness, but she is likely to face males in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic instead.

Firing a six-panel bullet here in 1:12 4/5 Sept. 18, Beholder was hammered down to heavy favoritism in this overmatched field, whose other entrants were all at double digit odds with the second choice being GISW Warren’s Veneda (Affirmative) at 11-1. Away well from the outside post in this nine-horse affair, the Spendthrift colorbearer was floated out wide on the first turn, but was quickly settled in to sit in a two-wide fourth under the expert guidance of Gary Stevens through an opening quarter in :23.43. Inched closer to look the pacesetting My Sweet Addiction in the eye after a half in :47.43, the bay stuck her head in front, but had yet to be asked by Stevens as she glided around the far turn into the stretch. Still motionless in the irons, Stevens took a look over his shoulder to see he was clear of the pacesetter with no one else even close. It was obvious the plan was to save something for the Breeders’ Cup as the Hall of Fame pilot remained still in the saddle and allowed Beholder to simply canter home the easiest of winners. It was not only the dual Eclipse winner’s third victory in the Zenyatta, but it was also her ninth win at the highest level.

“Richard [Mandella] has a big smile on his face,” Stevens said. “He told me yesterday, ‘I want to win but by no means do I want to knock her out.’ We couldn’t have scripted it any better. I told him that he might have to tack-walk her in the morning because she pulled up full of it.”

“It really was pretty much what I had hoped for from her,” Hall of Famer Richard Mandella said. “I hate to say ‘easy,’ but it really did look easy. She needed to run because she had nothing but rest since the Pacific Classic. She had one good workout, the rest was just rest, so she needed the race or a really good work or several good works. I actually thought with the [high] temperatures, maybe I shouldn’t run. Then I thought, if I scratch her, something else could come up, then everything would be messed up, so I stuck with it and I’m glad I did.”

Named champion juvenile in 2012 following a close second in the GI Del Mar Debutante S. and a win in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Beholder proved to be just as good at three with victories in the GI Las Virgenes S. and GI Santa Anita Oaks prior to finishing a close second to Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior) in the GI Kentucky Oaks. She reeled off three more wins, including her first Zenyatta and the 2013 Distaff, to clinch her second consecutive championship title. The bay kicked off an abbreviated 2014 campaign with a win in the Santa Lucia S. here and was fourth to champion Close Hatches (First Defence) in Belmont’s GI Ogden Phipps S. before returning to Arcadia to take her second Zenyatta. Forced to miss a title defense in the Distaff due to illness, she was also scratched from the Fasig-Tipton November sale and owner B. Wayne Hughes decided to race her another season.

That decision proved to be a wise one as Beholder returned better than ever with a successful title defense in Santa Anita’s Santa Lucia S. Apr. 10. Easily winning this venue’s GIII Adoration S. June 13, the 5-year-old romped by seven lengths in Del Mar’s GI Clement L. Hirsch S. Aug. 1. Facing males and trying 1 1/4 miles for the first time in Del Mar’s GI Pacific Classic Aug. 22, Beholder proved why she is a champion. She easily disposed of her rivals and cruised home to become the first female winner of the race by a sensational 8 1/4 lengths.

Beholder’s stakes-winning dam Leslie’s Lady (Tricky Creek), who is also responsible for GISW Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday), has an unraced 2-year-old filly named Leslie’s Harmony (Curlin) and a weanling colt by Scat Daddy.

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
ZENYATTA S.-GI, $300,750, SA, 9-26, 3yo/up, f/m,
1 1/16m, 1:42.83, ft.
1–BEHOLDER, 124, m, 5, by Henny Hughes
1st Dam: Leslie’s Lady (SW, $187,014), by Tricky Creek
2nd Dam: Crystal Lady, by Stop the Music
3rd Dam: One Last Bird, by One for All
($180,000 Ylg ’11 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC;
B-Clarkland Farm (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella; J-Gary
L. Stevens. $180,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Filly,
Ch. 3yo Filly, MGISW, 20-15-3-0, $4,436,600. *1/2
to Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday), GISW, $597,080.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk
Nick Rating: A.[bullet ad=”clarkland-bredraisedsold”][bullet ad=”clarkland-congrats”][bullet ad=”kings-equine-beholder”][bullet ad=”woodford-winning”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″] 2–My Sweet Addiction, 124, m, 5, Tiznow–Healthy
Addiction, by Boston Harbor. O/B-Pamela C. Ziebarth
(KY); T-Martin F. Jones. $60,000.
3–Savings Account, 119, f, 4, Medaglia d’Oro–Wild
Hoots, by Unbridled’s Song. ($310,000 Ylg ’12
KEESEP). O-Heider Family Stables LLC & Craig
Bernick; B-Dell Ridge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Thomas F.
Proctor. $36,000.[bullet ad=”lanni-hillndale-purchased”][bullet ad=”lanes-end-sales-grad”] Margins: 3 1/4, 5HF, HF. Odds: 0.10, 20.70, 35.20.
Also Ran: My Monet, Big Book, Wild in the Saddle, Warren’s Veneda, Kyriaki. Scratched: Oscar Party.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.