Stellar Wind wins by neck in 3-horse Beholder Mile
ARCADIA, Calif. — Stellar Wind beat Vale Dori by a neck to win the $400,000 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Stellar Wind nudged in front nearing the finish line after dueling with pacesetter Vale Dori throughout the Grade 1 race.
Stellar Wind ran the mile in 1:36.14 and paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite. Finest City was another 4 3/4 lengths back in third. There was no place or show wagering because of the three-horse field.
Still, it was plenty dramatic.
Vale Dori broke from the rail and took off running, leaving Stellar Wind and jockey Rafael Bejarano in chase mode while Finest City brought up the rear most of the way under Hall of Famer Mike Smith. Vale Dori resisted when challenged by Stellar Wind approaching the top of the stretch before giving up the lead in mid-stretch and then fighting back inside only to get edged out in the closing strides.
Stellar Wind challenged Vale Dori passing the quarter pole and Espinoza went to a left-handed whip. The 5-yearold chestnut mare gained a slim lead in mid-stretch when Espinoza switched to a right-handed whip and she held on while running outside of Vale Dori.
Trained by John Sadler, Stellar Wind was coming off a 1
1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap in April, her only other start this year. She has nine wins in 14 career starts. The victory, worth $240,000, made her a millionaire, with earnings of $1,053,200.
Vale Dori also reached six-figure career earnings of
$1,053,200 while having her six-race winning streak snapped for trainer Bob Baffert. His other entry, Faithfully, was scratched, along with Show Stealer.
Vale Dori was running against two champions: Stellar Wind, the top 3-year-old filly in 2015, and Finest City, last year’s top female sprinter.
Finest City fell to 0-5 in two-turn races.
In the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile, Bal a Bali closed with a rush to win by three-quarters of a length.
Ridden by Smith, Bal a Bali ran the distance on turf in
1:32.22 and paid $8.20, $4.20 and $3 in the Grade 1 race. Farhaan returned $3.80 and $2.80, while 5-2 favorite Heart to Heart was another nose back in third and paid $3 to show.
The victory earned Bal a Bali an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4. The 7-year-old dark bay horse owned by Calumet Farm has won the Brazilian version of the Triple Crown and survived a bout with laminitis in his 25-race career.
Bal a Bali earned his second Grade 1 win of the year to go with his victory in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile over the same turf in March.
Free Rose finished fourth, followed by Gangster, Bolo and What a View.
English Derby
EPSOM, England — Wings of Eagles rallied to win the English Derby at 40-1 odds, giving trainer Aidan O’Brien his sixth victory in the race and Queen Elizabeth among the spectators on Saturday.
Wings of Eagles came from second-to-last in an 18-horse field to win by three-quarters of a length under little-known jockey Padraig Beggy, who earned his first Derby win.
Cliffs of Moher was second, while 7-2 favorite Cracksman was another neck back in third in the 1 ½-mile race at Epsom Downs.
Wings of Eagles ran the distance in 2:33.02 on turf. Cracksman and Eminent are two offspring of undefeated Frankel. Eminent finished fourth.
O’Brien saddled six horses. He has won the Derby four times in the last six years.