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Beholder holds for Zenyatta title defense Spendthrift Farm LLC's Beholder wired the Zenyatta 12 months ago at Santa Anita by 1 1/4 lengths, but on Saturday found herself tracking the pace in the 2014 edition of the Grade 1, $300,000 contest under jockey Mike Smith before taking command rounding the turn and pulling off a three-quarter length victory. "She did it again," owner B. Wayne Hughes happily remarked. "I was just watching. I wasn't thinking clearly. There's a lot of pressure when everyone is expecting you to win. She's been a nice mare for us, we like her very much. I've never had a horse like this before; she's something very special." Beholder was making her first start back here since finishing a close fourth in the Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 7. The Henny Hughes lass suffered a bad cut on her left hind pastern in that event and just returned to training in early August, forcing her to miss the entire Del Mar meet, but that wasn't the end of her troubles. "In her big work at Del Mar before the end of the meet she split that injury open," trainer Richard Mandella explained. "We had to put five stitches in it again to try and heal it a second time. She missed a week's training and was just able to get ready in time for this race. Most horses could not have gotten ready." By winning Saturday's 1 1/16-mile affair, Beholder earned a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Distaff via the "Win & You're In" Challenge series of races. She captured the Distaff a year ago following her 2013 Zenyatta win, defeating defending champion Royal Delta in the process. "I couldn't be happier than to have her back like this, and this race ought to put her ready to go for the Breeders' Cup (Distaff on October 31)," Mandella noted. Tiz Midnight broke on top and led the way in the Zenyatta on Saturday after Iotapa missed the break. That latter filly settled into a ground-saving spot behind while Yahilwa and Beholder drafted just off the pacesetter's flank through splits of :23, :46 2/5 and 1:10 1/5. Beholder and Smith, who was in the irons for the first time while regular rider Gary Stevens recuperates from knee surgery, began moving as the field neared the turn and had taken over by the time they hit the stretch. The four-year-old miss continued motoring in the lane as Tiz Midnight refused to go away quietly and re-rallied on the outside. Despite the game effort, Beholder held the longtime leader to second while stopping the clock in 1:42 over the fast dirt. She paid $2.80 as the 2-5 favorite. "She felt great, really good," Smith stated. "We were worried about her getting a little tired. We were hoping we could get a bit tired but still win in hand but I had to ride her a little. "The second-place mare, Tiz Midnight, is a race-fit mare. She's run twice down at Del Mar and ran impressively so she was the kind of mare that would probably push us today. She made us do a little more than we thought we were going to have to. It could be a blessing in disguise as well because we certainly needed a good race like that. "The track is a bit slower today. You're going to get tired on it if you're not 100 percent fit and that's a good thing." "(Smith) was just being safe. He was on a heavy favorite, why take a chance of locking her up?" Mandella replied when asked why Beholder was wide going into the first turn. "Smith kept her out of trouble and did the right thing. He's known for that." Tiz Midnight, a very nice runner-up considering she was making her stakes bow, had 3 1/4 lengths to spare on third-placer Iotapa, who just held Yahilwa by a half-length on the wire. Wittgenstein trailed a distant last while Tiz the Key was scratched. "She ran a good race," praised Tiz Midnight's jockey, Victor Espinoza. "She took off a bit quick on me and when (Beholder) came up on us, it took us a while to get back to speed and we just ran out of track. She's a big horse and it takes her a lot of time to get going again. It took us from the eighth-pole to the end to get back up to speed again. But she's a very good horse and she ran a good race." "She's always pretty tight (anxious) in there, but today she was way too tight. When they sprang it, she just broke real slow," explained Joe Talamo, who had piloting duties aboard Iotapa. Beholder suffered just her second off-the-board placing in the Ogden Phipps, which also snapped a four-race win streak that included the Zenyatta and Distaff as well as the 2013 Torrey Pines and her 2014 bow in the Santa Lucia on April 20. The filly was honored as the champion three-year-old filly for her 2013 season, which also boasted wins in the Santa Anita Oaks and Las Virgenes, and seconds in the Kentucky Oaks and Santa Ynez. That was Beholder's second Eclipse Award as she was also honored as the 2012 champion two-year-old filly following a Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies score and a nose second in the Del Mar Debutante. With Saturday's second straight win in the Zenyatta, Beholder bumped her career mark to 10-3-0 from 15 starts and boasts a $3,368,300 lifetime bankroll. Bred by Clarkland Farm, the bay filly came to B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm as an $180,000 Keeneland September yearling. She is out of the stakes-winning Tricky Creek mare Leslie's Lady, making her a half-sister to Grade 1-scoring top sire Into Mischief. This is the same female family as yet another Grade 1-winning stallion in Roanoke. Beholder's fifth dam is Patelin, from whom is descended the likes of champion Pleasant Stage as well as Grade 1 scorers A Phenomenon, Seattle Meteor, Marsh Side and Pillaster. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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