Beholder draws off for Zenyatta victory

Champion Beholder easily captured her final start before the Breeders' Cup

Distaff, and earned an automatic berth in the starting gate of that contest,

when pulling away to a 1 1/4-length win in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,500

Zenyatta

at Santa Anita Park, this year's home to the Breeders' Cup.

The Richard Mandella-trained filly also gave owner B.

Wayne Hughes a stellar 80th birthday gift when finishing 1 1/16 miles on the fast

dirt in 1:42. Beholder was sent off the 8-5 favorite and returned $5.20 for the

front-running victory.

"Our whole goal this year

was to get to the Breeders' Cup again," Hughes said. "So Richard Mandella did a great job

picking the races and the pace and everything else. We were happy to be here and

it was nice to win."

"(Her win) was as easy (as it looked) from my box. It looked as easy as

it appeared," Mandella stated. "Gary (Stevens) is a great rider. He always has been...but I don't want to take away from the filly. The filly's very special. I'm very

proud of her.

"Anytime you try something

different it makes you nervous, when you're responsible for a horse like this,"

the horseman added about Beholder facing older runners for the first time in the

Zenyatta.

"She couldn't look any better or be doing any better, so I had a lot of

confidence.

"She's just a filly that really likes the fight. She likes going to battle

and it comes out when the race is run. She'll go in the Distaff after this."

Jockey Gary Stevens didn't have to do much urging to get Beholder into her

customary spot on the lead when the gates opened. The bay daughter of Henny

Hughes quickly assumed command and proceeded to set fractions of :23 3/5, :47

1/5 and 1:11 1/5 while tracked by Include Me Out and the gray Joyful Victory to

her outside. Authenticity had moved up along the rail and was just waiting for a

spot to open so she could begin her run down on the inside.

Beholder kept motoring right into the lane, leaving Joyful Victory and

Authenticity to battle it out for second. The latter got the jump on her gray

rival by 2 1/4 lengths for runner-up honors as Beholder cruised under the wire

an easy winner.

"They have done such a good

job with her, she's really matured from what I've seen just being a fan of hers

and then being able to ride her right now," Stevens said. "I just try and stay out of her way.

She's particular about what she wants and as long as she gets it she's easy to

deal with.

"When she swaps leads coming off the turn she lunges and it's like she

covers two lengths of what a normal stride is. I haven't got close to the bottom

of her yet. Maybe there's not as much there as I think but it feels like there

is still another gear."

Joyful Victory was 3 1/2 lengths up on fourth-placer Flashy American, while

More Chocolate, Via Villaggio and Include Me Out completing the order under the

wire after Great Hot was scratched.

"I had a good filly. I

just got beat by a good filly, too," said Martin Garcia, who piloted

Authenticity. "I expected a little bit more speed, but it

didn't go like I wanted. But I was that close. When I asked her to go, she did

go, but the other went better. A little bit more distance and my filly would be

much better."

"We usually draw

the one hole with this filly, so we were thankful to draw the outside today but

I still ended up running third," remarked Joyful Victory's rider, Rosie

Napravnik. "We were working much harder than everybody else

around both turns and that probably cost us quite a bit; we were at a big

disadvantage on both turns. The pace did slow a bit and she likes to run freely

but...she still ran a good race today."

"It was a good horse

race. No excuses," trainer Larry Jones said after Joyful Victory's third. "We had a good clean trip. We had to run a little. It's been a

long time since we raced. We set this up on purpose knowing we'd fire back

pretty quick for the Breeders' Cup. If all goes well, she gets back to Churchill

well, we'll be back."

Beholder is now 7-3-0 from 11 starts in her career, having earned $1,975,000

lifetime. The bay daughter of Henny Hughes earned champion two-year-old filly

honors in 2012 after taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and just missing

by a nose in the Del Mar Debutante.

She's done much better this season, racking up a 3-2-0 mark from five starts.

Beholder dropped her sophomore opener when second in the January 21 Santa Ynez,

but was diagnosed with a throat ulcer not long after. Given a brief break, she

returned to take a pair of Grade 1s at Santa Anita in the Las Virgenes and Santa

Anita Oaks.

The filly traveled outside of California for the first time when shipping to

the Bluegrass State for the Kentucky Oaks. She grabbed a two-length lead in the

stretch of that nine-furlong affair, but was caught by Princess of Sylmar and

had to settle for second on the wire. Beholder took an extended vacation over

the summer, not returning to action until showing up for a 2 3/4-length win in

the Torrey Pines at Del Mar on September 1.

While many would like to see a Beholder/Princess of Sylmar rematch in the

Breeders' Cup, it's unlikely the latter filly's connections will supplement her

to the race. Princess of Sylmar essentially wrapped up champion three-year-old

honors earlier on Saturday when defeating two-time champion and Breeders' Cup

Distaff winner Royal Delta in the Beldame at Belmont Park.

Bred in Kentucky by Clarkland Farm, Beholder came to Hughes' Spendthrift Farm

as a $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

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, Pillaster and Classy Play.

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