Beholder goes out a winner

Battle-hardened mare Beholder made her third Breeders' Cup triumph a spectacular one, silencing previously unbeaten Songbird in a dramatic Breeders' Cup Distaff.

The six-year-old Beholder, trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by Gary Stevens, on Friday reeled in front-running Songbird then held off the spectacular filly to win by a short nose.

"I picked her up a little bit earlier than I normally would just to apply pressure to Songbird and got on even terms with her coming into the stretch. I squeezed Beholder. She gave it to me.

"Poked my head in front, and Songbird came back again. She (Beholder) actually put Songbird away three different times through the stretch and she (Songbird) kept coming back.

The triumph, capping the first day of action in the 13-race, $28 million Breeders' Cup festival at Santa Anita Park, ended a three-race losing streak and sends Beholder to the breeding shed on the highest of high notes.

"Even in Beholder's three previous defeats, it was almost like she knew she was beaten midway through the stretch and looked after herself," said Stevens. "Today, she didn't look after anything. She laid her heart out there on the racetrack and gave me absolutely everything that was running through her veins.

"I've had some good feelings in racing," added Stevens, "But this is tops right here."

Beholder's impressive resume includes two prior Breeders' Cup victories, in the 2012 Juvenile Fillies and the 2013 Distaff.

But illness forced her out of the 2014 Distaff and out of last year's Classic, where she was slated for a showdown with Triple Crown hero American Pharoah.

But when she got her chance against a field that included three-year-old star Songbird, unbeaten in 11 prior races, and last year's three-year-old Eclipse Award-winner Stellar Wind Beholder didn't disappoint.

Jockey Mike Smith, who had taken his record total of Breeders' Cup wins to 23 earlier Friday, sent Songbird straight to the lead, Beholder and I'm a Chatterbox following.

Stevens stepped up the pressure on Songbird as they entered the stretch and the two ran nose-for-nose toward the wire.

"It was a heck of a horse race," Stevens said. "I take my hat off to Songbird as a three-year-old, but I can't say enough about this mare. "It was a hell of a way for her to go out."

Smith was full of praise for Songbird, who finished 1 1/4 lengths in front third-placed Forever Unbridled. Stellar Wind was fourth and I'm a Chatterbox fifth in the eight-horse field.

"Hopefully Songbird will be around next year," he said. "She'll be bigger and stronger and I hope there'll be a lot more to come."

A shadow was cast over the race when Argentinian runner Corona Del Inca suffered multiple right foreleg fractures and was euthanized.

Source: AFP