Beholder soaks up the Adoration at Santa Anita

Spendthrift Farm LLC's dual champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) showed she had

fully recovered when posting an easy 1 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $100,250

Adoration S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

The bay mare easily withstood Warren's Veneda (Affirmative) in the stretch

run, finally facing that rival after missing their original scheduled showdown

in the May 9 Vanity H. (G1) after spiking a fever. Warren's Veneda round up

third in the Vanity as the 1-9 favorite, but was nowhere near those odds as

Beholder drew the majority of the public's attention.

"I'm relieved and

delighted," trainer Richard Mandella admitted. "Warren's Veneda is a good filly and she ran at her and made a contest

out of it, but I wouldn't trade mine for anybody."

Sent off the 1-5 favorite Saturday, Beholder kept the pressure on pacesetter

My Monet (Decarchy) through the opening half-mile of :23 2/5 and :47. She easily

took over entering the turn and held firm control under jockey Gary Stevens

through six furlongs in 1:10 4/5.

Warren's Veneda, meanwhile, was tracking just to Beholder's outside and

followed her rival into the lane. The chestnut mare attempted to go with her

fellow five-year-old foe but couldn't keep pace as Beholder finished under a

mild hand ride from Stevens to stop the clock in 1:41 3/5 for 1 1/16 miles on

the fast main track.

"She ran her heart out," Baze praised Warren's Veneda. "I thought there would

be a little bit faster pace and there wasn't. I was a little closer than I

thought I was going to be.

"She really ran her race; she tried hard. It just makes me wonder if that

three or four pounds made the difference. They'll get even weights the next time

so we will see what happens, maybe we will turn the tables on her."

Beholder was ruled out of a title defense in the Breeders' Cup

Distaff (G1) last fall due to illness and was withdrawn from last November's Fasig-Tipton

November Sale due to her continued recovery from that ailment. The Kentucky-bred

mare did not reappear until the April 10 Santa Lucia, where she romped by 3 3/4

lengths.

Now 12-3-0 from 17 career starts, Beholder has accumulated $3,476,600 in

lifetime earnings. She boasts 10 stakes victories, including the 2012 Breeders'

Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and 2013 Breeders' Cup Distaff; three stakes placings,

including a near-miss second in the 2013 Kentucky Oaks (G1); and two Eclipse

Awards as the 2012 champion two-year-old filly and 2013 champion three-year-old

filly.

"We'll look at the ($300,000) Clement

Hirsch ([G1] on August 1) at Del Mar

and the Zenyatta (G1) here (at Santa Anita), with the Breeders' Cup (Distaff

[G1] at Keeneland October 30) the

ultimate goal. That's what we're here for," Mandella outlined his mare's

schedule.

Bred by Clarkland Farm, Beholder came to B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm as

an $180,000 Keeneland September yearling. She is out of the stakes-winning

Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek), making her a half-sister to Grade 1-scoring top

sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday). This is the same female family as yet

another Grade 1-winning stallion in Roanoke (Pleasant Colony).