Beholder (horse)

Beholder
Beholder in the walking ring for the 2016 Breeders' Cup Distaff
Sire	Henny Hughes
Grandsire	Hennessy
Dam	Leslie's Lady
Damsire	Tricky Creek
Sex	Mare
Foaled	May 9, 2010[1]
Country	United States
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Clarkland Farm
Owner	Spendthrift Farm
Trainer	Richard Mandella
Record	26: 18-6-0[2]
Earnings	$6,156,000
Major wins
Santa Ynez Stakes (2013) Las Virgenes Stakes (2013) Santa Anita Oaks (2013) Zenyatta Stakes (2013, 2014, 2015) Santa Lucia Stakes (2014, 2015) Adoration Stakes (2015, 2016) Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (2015) Pacific Classic (2015) Vanity Mile (2016) Breeders' Cup wins: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (2012) Breeders' Cup Distaff (2013, 2016)
Awards
American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly (2012) American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly (2013) American Champion Older Dirt Female Horse (2015, 2016)
Honours
Beholder Mile Stakes National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, 2022

Beholder (foaled May 9, 2010) 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. After a four-year-old season plagued by injuries and illness, with a single graded stakes win in three attempts, she returned to form as a five-year-old with multiple stakes wins, becoming the first filly or mare to win the Pacific Classic and was voted American Champion Older Dirt Female Horse. In doing so, she became the first horse since 1976, male or female, to win Grade 1 stakes races at age 2, 3, 4, and 5. In 2016, she extended this achievement by winning the Grade I Vanity Stakes, and in doing so tied the record of John Henry for winning a Grade I race five years in a row. She closed out her career winning the 2016 Breeders' Cup Distaff in a dramatic stretch run, prevailing by a scant nose over the Songbird. She received her second Eclipse Award as Champion Older Dirt Female Horse at the end of the year and retired in 2016 having tied Goldikova as one of only two horses to have ever won three Breeders' Cup Championships. In 2022, she was named to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.