Queen ‘Be’ Leaves the Boys in Her Dust in Pac Classic

Following Beholder (Henny Hughes)’s victory last time in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. Aug. 1, the seventh top-level success of her already illustrious career, trainer Richard Mandella seriously upped the ante. The Hall of Famer–the same guy that sent out the top three finishers in the 1997 GI Santa Anita H., the same one that won four Breeders’ Cup races in a day in 2003–suggested that he might point the mare to the GI TVG Pacific Classic. Only five females had tried it, with Paseana (Arg)’s fifth-place effort in 1992 the best result. But, with a breathtaking move leaving the three-furlong pole, the two-time Eclipse Award winner left a strong field of handicap horses literally in the dust, as she streaked home to best stablemate Catch a Flight (Arg) (Giant’s Causeway) by 8 1/4 lengths.

Not only did Beholder become the first of her gender to win the race, but her margin of victory established a new record for a running of the Pacific Classic on conventional dirt, easily eclipsing the 5 1/2-length success by Skimming in 2000. The final time of 1:59.77, without being fully extended, was just 0.66 seconds off Candy Ride (Arg)’s track record of 1:59.11 established in winning the 2003 Classic over the previous dirt course and is the joint-third fastest winning time in the 25-year history of the race.

Questions in the immediate aftermath of the win included where to run next?

“I’m just going to enjoy this one,” said Mandella.

Saturday, Del Mar
$1 MILLION TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC S.-GI, $1,001,250, DMR, 8-22, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 1:59.77, ft.
1–BEHOLDER, 119, 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. $600,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo & 3yo Filly,
19-14-3-0, $4,256,600. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
[bullet ad=”clarkland-bredraisedsold”][bullet ad=”clarkland-shopkeesepyearlings”][bullet ad=”kings-equine-another-kings-equine-graduate-double-bullet”][bullet ad=”woodford-winning”][bullet ad=”kbif-g1″]2–Catch a Flight (Arg), 124, h, 5, Giant’s Causeway—
Callaia (Arg), by Lode. O-Haras Santa Maria de
Araras; B-Estacion de Montas La Mission S. A. &
Tupacireta S.R.L.A.G. (ARG); T-Richard E. Mandella.
$200,000.
3–Red Vine, 124, h, 5, Candy Ride (Arg)–Murky
Waters, by Storm Creek. ($200,000 Ylg ’11
FTSAUG; $290,000 RNA 2yo ’12 FTFMAR). O-Jon &
Sarah Kelly; B-Alastar Thoroughbred Co. (KY);
T-Christophe Clement. $120,000.
[bullet ad=”ramona-good-ramona-good-859-608-1502″][bullet ad=”four-star-sales-%c2%bd-sis-sells-with-four-star-sales-at-keesep-hip-2191″]Margins: 8 1/4, 1, HF. Odds: 2.00, 7.80, 4.60.
Also Ran: Hoppertunity, Imperative, Hard Aces, Class Leader, Bailoutbobby, Bayern, Midnight Storm.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Beholder, a $180,000 graduate of the Clarkland Farm consignment at Keeneland four Septembers ago, clinched the first of her two Eclipse Awards with a front-running victory in the 2012 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita and doubled up the following season with a 4 1/4-length defeat of her elders in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a field that included the race’s two-time defending champion Royal Delta (A.P. Indy). She faced the starter but three times in 2014, but successfully defended her title in the GI Zenyatta S. last fall and appeared on track to make it back-to-back scores in the Distaff. But illness intervened, canceling not only a chance for a third Breeders’ Cup crown, but also a trip to Kentucky, where she was catalogued for the Fasig-Tipton November sale. With just those 15 starts over the course of three seasons, the decision was taken to keep Beholder in training, and given the ease with which she annexed her three starts this season, it was time to shoot for the moon and a date with history in the meet’s marquee race.

Drawn out in gate nine, Beholder left there running, and her superior positional speed landed her by her lonesome in third, as defending Breeders’ Cup Classic hero Bayern (Offlee Wild) and Midnight Storm (Pioneerof the Nile) set off through unsustainable early fractions of :22.36 for the opening quarter and, with Beholder three wide and out of harm’s way, :45.45 for the half-mile. Catch a Flight, Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) and Red Vine settled in the second flight of horses, and that trio began to edge closer as the pacesetters slowed it down just a touch with a half-mile to race. Gary Stevens, a passenger throughout, gave Beholder the slightest of cues right at the three-eighths pole and she commenced a breathtaking rally–with Stevens sitting hard against her–that catapulted her past a spent Bayern and Midnight Storm and left the others reeling in her wake. Catch a Flight came wide into the lane, but Beholder had amassed an unassailable advantage and, for good measure, threw in a final quarter mile in :24.65 in the most stunning performance of the year, if not the past several years. Catch a Flight just managed to outfinish East Coast raider Red Vine for second to give Mandella a 1-2 finish for the second time in the history of the race (Gentlemen {Arg} over Siphon {Brz} in 1997).

“The funny thing was [about her move on the far turn], is that I didn’t do that. She did,” said Stevens, whose lone previous Classic win came for Mandella in 1997. “You could see her ears straight up. She was just going so easy. We went by Bayern like he was tied. Then when we straightened away I pushed the button and she went on with it. I’ve never felt anything like that on a racetrack before. And I don’t think she’s done yet. She’s got a few more in her. And she’s got a special place in my heart.”

Added Mandella, “Just like we thought. Didn’t think she would do it quite like that, though. We thought it was just the girls she was picking on.”

And winning owner B. Wayne Hughes, who stands Beholder’s half-brother Into Mischief at Spendthrift, summed it up this way.

“I’ve never had that feeling before. I think it’s called pride.”