The 2016 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park didn’t lack for star energy. Two widespread racemares, Girl Eli and Tepin, had been readily available to contest the Filly and Mare Turf and Mile, respectively, whereas the Traditional served as the primary matchup between 2014 Kentucky Derby and 2016 Dubai World Cup winner California Chrome and the current Travers Stakes winner Arrogate. However the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff was second to no different race on the 33rd World Championships so far as marquee matchups go … and boy, did it reside as much as expectations.
The Distaff, held as the ultimate Breeders’ Cup race on the opening Friday of the two-day occasion, was headlined by unbeaten 3-year-old filly Songbird, who had recorded 11 consecutive wins to start out her profession relationship again to July 2015. The Jerry Hollendorfer trainee had not been critically challenged in any of her victories, which included a 5 ¾-length romp within the 2015 14 Fingers Vineyard Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland that netted her an Eclipse Award and 4 Grade 1 stakes wins throughout 2016, topped by a seven-length tour de power within the 1 ¼-mile Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. Songbird raced for proprietor Rick Porter, who had scaled the heights of the game earlier within the decade with 2011 Horse of the 12 months Havre de Grace and who was battling most cancers as his newest star rose to fame. Her jockey, Mike Smith, had piloted the legendary Zenyatta to glory within the late 2000s and knew of which he spoke concerning superior fillies.
“Everybody cherished her, they cherished her on each coasts,” Smith instructed Bob Ehalt for Thoroughbred Each day Information. “You couldn’t assist however love her – you don’t see too many horses like her.”
One horse who was very very like Songbird would meet her within the Distaff. Beholder had first turned heads on California circuit as a 2-year-old with precocious velocity and an unbiased mindset in 2012. Skilled by Corridor of Famer Richard Mandella for B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm, the Into Mischief filly was a handful from the beginning, headstrong and hard.
“I’d say she introduced me alongside,” Mandella instructed the Chicago Tribune in 2015 when reflecting on Beholder’s profession. “I haven’t introduced her alongside.”
Even so, Beholder’s expertise was plain, and she or he took the 2012 Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita to safe her first Eclipse Award and solely obtained higher from there over the subsequent yr and a half, profitable the 2013 Distaff again at ‘The Nice Race Place’ to earn one other Eclipse. She headed into 2014 at age 4 as a fundamental contender within the older feminine division, however Beholder developed a sequence of well being issues that triggered her to overlook the World Championships. She returned in 2015 to completely crush male opponents by 8 ¼ lengths within the TVG Pacific Traditional, main Mandella to say, “I’ve by no means felt emotion over a race like this.” A lung challenge pressured her to overlook the 2015 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland and a extremely anticipated assembly with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah within the Traditional, however Beholder nonetheless gained her third Eclipse Award, and Mandella introduced her again for yet another marketing campaign as a 6-year-old in 2016.
Beholder gained two stakes races to kick off the yr, however then completed second thrice in a row, together with behind California Chrome in her bid for a Pacific Traditional repeat. Beholder additionally was runner-up to West Coast rival Stellar Wind in two Grade 1 stakes for fillies and mares in California, resulting in hypothesis that the three-time champion had misplaced a step. That current type led to Beholder going off as the three.30-1 third betting selection behind 11-10 favourite Songbird and 5-2 Stellar Wind in a Distaff discipline that additionally included under-the-radar Ceaselessly Unbridled, a 15.70-1 longshot who entered off of a win within the Grade 1 Beldame Stakes.
Songbird broke on the lead as she had in most of her 11 earlier wins and set a snug tempo underneath Smith, whereas Beholder and Corridor of Fame jockey Gary Stevens stalked in third after a half-mile. Stevens had taken the mount on Beholder in fall 2013 and had been aboard her in 16 of her 17 begins since then, and he saved her off the rail and out of any site visitors by the backstretch whereas Stellar Wind, who broke poorly, and Ceaselessly Unbridled raced farther again.
Halfway by the far flip, Stevens gave Beholder her cue and she or he moved as much as problem Songbird on the prime of the stretch. Though Ceaselessly Unbridled briefly made a threatening rally behind the highest pair, she flattened out in midstretch, leaving the main focus squarely on Beholder and Songbird.
The 2 champions commenced to present bettors and racing followers what they at all times hope to see in a horse race – a pure check of will and braveness.
When the picture end was lastly revealed, Beholder had prevailed by a nostril within the Distaff, ending Songbird’s unbeaten streak … however as any veteran railbird will inform you, there are picture finishes, after which there are picture finishes. This one nonetheless appeared inconclusive to many a unadorned eye and led to Web hypothesis a few rigged consequence, a tragic reminder of those conspiracy-fueled occasions. Honestly, there was no loser in what’s with out query among the finest races within the occasion’s storied historical past.
“The true Beholder confirmed up in the present day,” Mike Smith instructed BloodHorse. “That was in all probability the most effective race she has run in her life. My filly made her attain down as deep as she has. In dropping, I really feel like we gained.”
“I have been in battles earlier than, however by no means the size of the stretch,” Stevens mentioned. “I imply, it was a full nearly five-sixteenths – positively 1 / 4 of a mile of only a road battle.”
The Longines Distaff marked the tip Beholder’s racing profession; she retired with a profession file of 18 wins from 26 begins and earnings of $6.15 million. Beholder earned her fourth Eclipse Award in 2016, her second as champion older filth feminine, and Songbird was voted champion 3-year-old filly to accompany her honors as a juvenile the yr prior.
Songbird got here again for her 4-year-old season and gained the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes and Grade 1 Delaware Handicap, however in contrast to so a lot of her earlier wins, she needed to dig deep to fend off challenges in each races. She then completed second by a neck to Ceaselessly Unbridled within the Private Ensign Stakes, giving up the lead late, and that turned out to be Songbird’s ultimate begin as she retired with a file of 13 wins from 15 begins and earnings of $4.69 million.
Having reached peak type, Ceaselessly Unbridled used the Private Ensign Stakes as a springboard to a different attempt on the Longines Distaff that fall at Del Mar. She gained the Distaff by a half-length, and was honored as champion older filth feminine of 2017.
In November 2017, Songbird bought on the Fasig-Tipton November sale to Mandy Pope for a hefty $9.5 million. Each champions now reside in Kentucky – Beholder at Spendthrift Farm and Songbird at Pope’s Timber City Farm – and are nicely into their second careers as broodmares. Beholder was voted into the Racing Corridor of Fame in 2022, and Songbird joined her rival a yr later.
