‘Beholder’ wins her 3rd Breeders’ Cup Race after stretch duel with ‘Songbird’ at Santa Anita

Capping off her career with a third Breeders’ Cup victory, Beholder handed Songbird her first defeat in a thrilling stretch duel in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff Friday — a rousing start to the two-day gathering of horse-racing royalty at Santa Anita Park.

The 6-year-old mare won her final race by a nose over Songbird, who is half her age and was undefeated in 11 prior starts.

Beholder’s jockey, Gary Stevens, said after the race that “the show that those two put on” was “worth the admission.”

“I’ve been in battles before, but never the length of the stretch,” the Hall of Fame jockey said. “I mean, it was a full almost 5/16th, definitely a quarter of a mile for a street fight.”

Stevens had said earlier this week that he had ridden the race many times in his head with countless scenarios, but they all had a “happy ending.”

The happy ending came true, but with a closer finish than Stevens had imagined, as Beholder and Songbird battled through the stretch.

“It wasn’t supposed to be that close, but I’ll take it for sure,” he said.

Stevens said he heard a horse coming up on the outside and assumed that it was Beholder’s rival, Stellar Wind, who had beaten Beholder in their last two match-ups. It turned out to be Forever Unbridled, who wound up in third.

Stevens said he knew he had won the photo-finish, telling reporters that he “let out with a pretty loud holler” three or four strides from the finish line and Songbird’s jockey, Mike Smith, looked over and congratulated him.

Fans in the on-track crowd of about 45,700 loudly applauded both Beholder and Songbird as they returned to the grandstand area after the race.

“She laid her heart out there on the racetrack and gave me absolutely everything that was running through her veins, and it was fun to be a part of,” Beholder’s jockey said.

Stevens said Beholder and Songbird “laid out all out on the line,” calling Songbird “gallant in defeat.”

Stevens said he has had “some good feelings” from races, but said, “This is tops here.”

“It was bittersweet for me. I know I’ll never sit on another one like that,” he said. “I just kept thinking don’t let this one get away, don’t let this one get away.”

Her longtime jockey said he believes Beholder had already cemented her place in racing before her 6-year-old campaign, but said “she just added another star to it.”

Beholder wrapped up her career with 18 wins in 26 starts, including victories in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She had a racing career from ages 2 to 6 that continued long after some of her early rivals had retired, and may have sewn up her fourth Eclipse Award with her final victory.

“I thought the game needed some suspense so I got her beat a couple times, figuring it would make it look like I did something really special at the end. You know, it’s all in the planning,” Beholder’s trainer, Richard Mandella, quipped of Beholder’s three runner-up finishes before the Distaff.

Beholder went off as the third choice at just over 3-1, with Songbird at just over even money. Stellar Wind, the third choice at odds of 2 1/2 to 1, had beaten Beholder in their last two match-ups, but came in fourth this time behind Forever Unbridled.

Beholder paid $8.60 to win, $3.60 to place and $3 to show.

Beholder’s owner, B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm LLC, said he didn’t have any second thoughts about retiring Beholder.

I don’t bet on horses, but today I did make a bet,” Hughes said, telling reporters that Beholder is “by far the best horse I’ve ever (owned) or expect to have.”

Mandella lauded Hughes for having kept Beholder on the track.

“I’d like to say I think racing owes Mr. Hughes a hand of gratitude. Most people would have sold her or gone and bred her and took the easy route.”

In other Breeders’ Cup races:

–Tamarkuz had been winless since he came to the United States and was second in his last two starts, but the 6-year-old chestnut horse picked the right time to get to the finish line in the $1 million Dirt Mile. He was 3 1/2 lengths ahead of 4-1 second choice Gun Runner, with Accelerate a neck back in third.

“I want to do it three more times tomorrow,” Tamarkuz’s trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, said of his other three Breeders’ Cup entrants, including Classic contender Frosted.

Tamarkuz paid $25.80 to win, $9.40 to place and $8 to show.

Dortmund — the heavy favorite likely as a result of his runner-up finishes to California Chrome — was back in fourth. Runhappy, who won last year’s Sprint, beat only one horse as he was stretching out in distance in his second start this year.

— Oscar Performance — who had won his last two starts on the East Coast — came up victorious in the $1 million Juvenile Turf, winning by 1 1/4 lengths at odds of more than 6-1 in a packed field of 14. The European import Lancaster Bomber was back in second, with the previously undefeated Good Samaritan back in third.

Oscar Performance paid $15.20 to win, $8 to place and $5.60 to show.

— New Money Honey took the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, with Coasted in second and the French shipper Cavale Doree in third. New Money Honey paid $15 to win, $7.60 to place and $5.20 to show.

An even larger crowd is expected at the track Saturday, with 2014 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome headlining the main event, the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The hugely popular California Chrome, who is based at nearby Los Alamitos Race Track in Orange County, is set to make his second appearance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at morning-line odds of even money.

California Chrome finished third in the Classic when it was last run at Santa Anita in 2014, but his trainer, Art Sherman, said the chestnut horse has grown even bigger and stronger since then.

“I couldn’t be more pleased the way he’s coming into this race,” the 79-year-old trainer said this week. “I can’t tell you what a thrill it’s been for me, especially the last two races he won so easy (the Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Oct. 1 and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 20).”

Sherman said he’s “really happy” the Breeders’ Cup returned this year to Santa Anita, noting that California Chrome has won five graded stakes at the track and “loves it here.”

California Chrome’s rivals will include Santa Anita Handicap winner Melatonin, who has four wins in four starts at Santa Anita, and Arrogate, a lightly raced 3-year-old colt who has two wins in two starts at Santa Anita and broke a track record while winning the Travers at Saratoga this summer.

Arrogate will go up against his stablemate Hoppertunity, who won the San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita in February. Both are conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has trained the last two Breeders’ Cup winners, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah last year at Keeneland and Bayern at Santa Anita two years ago.

Keen Ice — who handed American Pharoah one of only two defeats in his career — will return to the Breeders’ Cup for the second consecutive year.

Other entrants include Woodward winner Shaman Ghost and longshots Win the Space and War Story.

One of the sentimental favorites for the weekend is likely to be Lady Eli, the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf champion who suffered a potentially life-threatening hoof condition after she stepped on a nail following her victory in the Belmont Oaks Invitational in July 2015. She’s making her third start this year and is the 5-2 morning line favorite in the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf.

Other Breeders’ Cup races set for Saturday are the $4 million Turf; the Mile, Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, which each have a purse of $2 million, the $1.5 million Sprint and the Filly & Mare Sprint and Turf Sprint for $1 million each.

 

—City News Service