Beholder 'looks the same' as in BC Distaff

When last seen, Beholder was storming her way to a 4 1/4-length triumph in

the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff, leaving in her wake champion Royal Delta

and Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar.

That was last November 1 at Santa Anita. Beholder has been resting on her

considerable laurels, so to speak, ever since, but on Sunday, the daughter of Henny Hughes owned by B. Waynes Hughes and trained by Richard Mandella returns

to work in earnest in the $75,000 Santa Lucia Stakes.

"We're just happy to be back," Mandella said on an overcast Friday morning at

Santa Anita. "She trains as good as ever and we hope she runs as good as ever."

Asked if there were any noticeable changes in Beholder, physically or

emotionally, from three to four, Mandella quipped: "I'm emotional. I'm pretty

nervous about it."

That might be understandable anytime a trainer sends out a prohibitive

favorite, which Mandella has done many times in a Hall of Fame career that lists

Phone Chatter (1993) and Halfbridled (2003) among his previous two-year-old

filly champions. Beholder has surpassed both of them, winning an Eclipse Award

as champion two-year-old filly of 2012 and champion three-year-old filly of

2013.

"Beholder looks the same (as she did at the end of her three-year-old

season)," Mandella said. "She grew up fast, as is obvious by her record. She

matured very quickly. She's the same filly we sent out (after winning the

Distaff); we hope she runs the same."

After finishing second by a half-length at 9-1 to Princess of Sylmar in the

Kentucky Oaks early last May, Beholder ripped off three straight daylight

victories: the ungraded Torry Pines at Del Mar on September 1; the Grade 1

Zenyatta on September 28; and the Grade 1 Distaff, cementing the title in the

three-year-old filly division.

"She got so much better as she got older," Mandella said when asked the

differences, if any, from Beholder to Phone Chatter and Halfbridled. "The other

fillies came up with problems, and that compromised them. Beholder didn't."

Beholder's regular rider, Gary Stevens, is keeping strategy simple.

"I just want to get away from there clean and let her do her thing," the Hall

of Famer said.

Among Beholder's rivals in the Santa Lucia is City at Dawn, who will be

making her stakes debut. Trainer Leonard Powell is nothing if not realistic when

it comes to his chances of defeating Beholder in the 1 1/16-mile event for

fillies and mares.

"My filly has a nice pedigree, but mostly we're running for second or third,"

Powell said, speaking of the City Zip half-sister to Grade 2 winner Al Khali.

"The thinking was, with Beholder running, it would be a small field and give

us an opportunity to get some black type," Powell said. "She's got nowhere else

to run, anyway."

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