It's in the Air

In this continuing series from last year, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Santa Anita's GI Beholder Mile S., the first Grade I event of the year in the distaff division. Formerly the Vanity, formerly run at Hollywood Park, and formerly run at distances up to 1 1/4 miles, the Beholder Mile has had one constant: class. Some of the most decorated racemares of our sport have won it since it was inaugurated in 1940,...

Of all the oddities shoehorned into the 2020 calendar, a Jim Dandy on Derby day felt like one of the most incongruous. In a regular year, this Grade II race serves as a midsummer crossroads for sophomores with an eye on the GI Travers: a chance either to regroup, after participation in the Triple Crown series, or to test the water after missing the Classics through immaturity or injury. At least this latter function was maintained, this time round, in the coming-of-age of 'TDN Rising Star' Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), a...