Splendora rolls down the stretch in the Beholder Mile, Benoit Photo
Santa Anita Park Press
ARCADIA, CA —Splendora won for the fifth-straight time and surpassed $1 million in earnings Saturday with a dominant 5 -length victory in the Grade I, $300,000 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile presented by FanDuel Saturday at Santa Anita.
With Juan Hernandez aboard, Splendora (1-9) went to the early lead and set opening fractions of 23.49 and 46.77 seconds while receiving mild pressure from eastern invader Bless the Broken (13-1). Splendora shook loose of that rival on the second turn, reached the quarter pole in 1:10.31 and drew off in the stretch to earn her second Grade I win. Bless the Broken, ridden by Florent Geroux for trainer Brad Cox, finished seven lengths clear of third-place finisher Om N Joy.
“She’s really fast out of the gate. She was doing it really easy. The first fraction was just perfect,” Hernandez said.
Splendora, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, is trained by Bob Baffert for owners Boyd Racing and By Talla Racing. Her winning time of 1:35.16 is the second-fastest recorded for this race since it was changed to one mile in 2016. Last year, Cavalieri won for Baffert in a time of 1:34.96.
“The main thing is to get her to the Breeders’ Cup and get her that championship, which she should have gotten (last year),” Baffert said.
Bred in Maryland, Splendora is a 5-year-old mare by Audible out of the Frost Giant mare Miss Freeze. She sold for just $125,000 at auction as a yearling. With her latest win, she improved to 12: 7-4-0 with $1,168,800 in earnings.
Splendora’s win-streak started in July with an allowance victory at Del Mar. She followed with wins in the Tranquility Lake Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, both at Del Mar last year, and most recently the GII D. Wayne Lukas going seven furlongs on Feb. 7 at Santa Anita.
Splendora paid $2.20, $2.10 and $2.10 for the popular victory. Bless the Broken returned $5.80 and $3.00. Om N Joy, ridden by Kent Desormeaux for trainer Aggie Ordonez, paid $2.40.
GRADE I, B. WAYNE HUGHES BEHOLDER MILE STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
JUAN HERNANDEZ, SPLENDORA, WINNER: “She’s really fast out of the gate. She was doing it really easy. Today the first fraction was just perfect for her. She’s getting better every race. Bob just told me, ‘Don’t look back and just have fun.’ That is what we did.”
TRAINER QUOTES
BOB BAFFERT, SPLENDORA, WINNER: We’ll see how she comes out of this race. Mainly, we wanted to get the Grade one here. Nothing like a great run, especially winning this race. She’s just getting better and better. I haven’t mapped anything out for her next race. She’ll tell me when she’s ready to go next time, and we’ll bring her fresh. The main thing is to get her to the Breeder’s Cup get her that championship, which she should have gotten last year.”
OWNER QUOTES
MICHAEL TALLA, BY TALLA RACING, CO-OWNER, WINNER: “Bob was thinking about entering her in the Big ‘Cap, but a mile and a quarter, that is a tough ask for her. I’m not sure she can go that far, but we are going to head back east and take on the big girls back there and see what happens. We are looking at the (Derby City) Distaff on Derby Day (Grade I, Saturday, May 2) and we are looking at the Madison (Keeneland) but the Madison is only four weeks away. I think we give her a couple months off and it’s up to Bob what he wants to do. The end goal is to get back into Breeders’ Cup and try to repeat and maybe we can win an Eclipse Award this year. We hope. But we want to see some of those good fillies back east. We want to see how good they are.”
NOTES: The winning owner is By Talla Racing, LLC and Boyd Racing.
