Beholder’s Tamara Aces Debut Test With Flying Colors

This column highlights the performances of maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are grade/group winners, or have dams that are grade/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners. 

Del Mar

Less than a year after her daughter Teena Ella  flashed across the finish line to become her first winner, Hall of Fame race mare Beholder  had another filly take her photo in Southern California with Spendthrift homebred Tamara .

Prior to Teena Ella’s maiden score in February at Santa Anita Park, where the War Font filly showed fresh vigor racing on the turf, Beholder’s first offspring had failed to find the winner’s circle. And thus the anticipation levels were high when the sleek bay Tamara, the spitting image of her famous dam, showed up at the Richard Mandella barn. Tamara didn’t take long to flash her talent in the morning. Sired by Spendthrift stallion Bolt d’Oro  , a multiple grade 1-winning juvenile and last year’s leading first crop stallion, precocity flowed through Tamara’s veins as naturally as a river leads to the ocean.

TAMARA ($8.20) looked like a professional winning @DelMarRacing race 7. A debut winner for owner/breeder @spendthriftfarm, by their stallion Bolt d’Oro out of great race mare Beholder. Trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by @mikeesmith10. Congrats to the connections! pic.twitter.com/L68LGOJMG0

— TVG (@TVG) August 20, 2023

While it took her mother two starts and her half sister three starts to break their maidens, it took Tamara only one try to accomplish the feat. Tamara was sent to post as the second choice behind the John Sadler-trained Hope Road , the first foal out of grade 1 victress Marley’s Freedom , in her Aug. 19 debut at Del Mar.

Tamara lost her footing at the start of the six-and-a-half furlong maiden special weight, stumbling to her knees out of the gate. Picking herself up under jockey Mike Smith, she advanced on her rivals with ease, stalking early fractions of :22.53 and :46.11 before angling out for the stretch run. Reaching with long and efficient strides, Tamara rumbled past frontrunning Hope Road and continued to extend her lead to the wire.

The 2-year-old was 2 1/4 lengths clear of Hope Road at the finish, covering the distance in a final time of 1:17.37.

Teena Ella became a graded stakes winner for Beholder earlier this summer with a gritty win in the Senorita Stakes (G3T) on the lawn at Santa Anita. Unlike her 3-year-old half sibling, however, Tamara seems more likely to follow in the hoofprints of her dam, who was crowned 2012 champion 2-year-old female following a sparkling gate-to-wire victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). This year’s Breeders’ Cup also takes place at Santa Anita Park, the site of Beholder’s three Breeder’s Cup wins.

Tamara is Beholder’s fourth foal. Her yearling Curlin   half brother topped this year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale when he dropped the hammer for $4 million to Zedan Racing. The colt was the first of her offspring to be offered at public auction. Beholder was bred to Jackie’s Warrior   this past breeding season.