page_title: Beholder (horse)
section_title: 2016: six-year-old season
hierarchical_section_title: Beholder (horse) / Racing career / 2016: six-year-old season
caption_attribution_description: English: In midstretch of the Breeders' Cup Distaff, Songbird leads by about half a length
context_page_description: Beholder is an American Thoroughbred race horse and multiple Eclipse Award winner. She was purchased as a yearling by B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm. She had an early reputation for being difficult to handle, but trainer Richard Mandella worked extensively with the fractious young horse, gradually developing her from a temperamental front-runner into a seasoned veteran who could be placed in strategic positions.
  As a two-year-old in 2012, she won three of her five races including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and was voted American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. In the following season, she won five of her seven races, including the Breeders' Cup Distaff. With the Breeders' Cup win, she became the first horse to win both the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Distaff in consecutive years, and concluded her three-year old season by being named American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly.
context_section_description: In her 2016 debut, Stevens was once again in the saddle, and Beholder won the Adoration Stakes for the second time in succession at Santa Anita Park on May 8, the day after the 2016 Kentucky Derby. This was her seventh straight victory in 16 wins overall, of which 14 were stakes wins. On June 4, Beholder appeared to be facing a much sterner task when she took on the 2015 American Champion three-year-old filly Stellar Wind in the Grade I Vanity Mile at Santa Anita. In a slowly run race, Stevens tracked the early leader, Lost Bus, before taking the lead on the turn and winning "effortlessly" by one and a half lengths from Stellar Wind. With this Grade I win, Beholder tied the record of John Henry in winning a Grade I race for five years in a row. However, Stellar Wind turned the tables on Beholder in the 2016 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, held on July 30, edging Beholder by a half-length in a stretch duel.
  Three weeks later, Beholder faced an all-star field in her return to the Pacific Classic on August 20.  The field included her first showdown with 2014 horse of the year California Chrome, as well as Dortmund, whose only career defeats had been to California Chrome and American Pharoah. She also faced Imperative and Hoppertunity, both of whom she had defeated in the previous year's race.  Beholder was third favorite on the morning line behind Chrome and Dortmund. California Chrome got the number one post position in the nine-horse field, viewed as an unfavorable draw for him, while Beholder obtained a favorable post at number seven, with Dortmund to her outside. Mandella felt she had trained strongly since her previous loss and was ready to go.  Beholder broke cleanly and remained second, stalking California Chrome, who led throughout the entire race.  She stalked the pace closely until the mile pole, at which point the stallion pulled ahead of the field and won by five lengths.  Beholder finished ​2 ¹⁄₂ lengths ahead of third-place Dortmund.  Stevens described her race as a "gutty performance" and Mandella stated, "she ran really good, just second best." Both jockey and trainer expressed respect for the performance of the winner.
  In October she started the 2-5 favorite for the Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita. After leading for most of the way she was headed in the final furlong and beaten a neck by Stellar Wind with the pair finishing more than eleven lengths clear of the other three runners. On November 4, in what was scheduled to be her final racecourse appearance before her retirement, Beholder made her first appearance in the Breeders' Cup since 2013 when she once again contested the Distaff at Santa Anita. Stellar Wind was again challenging, but the odds-on favorite was the undefeated three-year-old Songbird. Beholder, coming off three losses, was third in the betting odds. From the outside post position of the eight-horse field, Beholder tracked the leaders before moving alongside Songbird on the final turn. The pair engaged in a prolonged struggle in the straight before Beholder prevailed by a scant nose in a photo-finish. Stevens described the race by saying, "I've been in battles before, but never the length of the stretch  . . . definitely a quarter of a mile of just a street fight."  With her win, she tied Goldikova as one of only two horses to have ever won three Breeders' Cup Championships in the history of the series.
caption: Beholder and Songbird in the stretch run of the Distaff
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