Audible’s brilliant distaffer Splendora turned in yet another stellar performance in Saturday’s B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile (G1), winning by 5 ¾-lengths to give the 5-year-old her second Grade 1 victory.
A dominating winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), Splendora returned a month ago to win the inaugural running of the D. Wayne Lukas S. (G2). Splendora is Audible’s lifetime leading earner and is one of 10 stakes winners by the WinStar stallion.
Sent away as the prohibitive 1-9 favorite on Saturday, Splendora had a narrow lead over Bless the Broken through the first quarter-mile. At the half-way point, Splendora began to edge clear without being asked, then when called on at the top of the stretch, she easily left the field behind. She was eased up in the final sixteenth to get the mile in 1:35.16 on a fast track.
“We’ll see how she comes out of this race,” said trainer Bob Baffert of his mare’s upcoming plans. “Mainly, we wanted to get the Grade I 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.”
Splendora is owned by Boyd Racing and By Talla Racing, LLC. She is now 7-4-0 in 12 starts, and with Saturday’s payday of $180,000 became racing’s newest millionaire with a career total of $1,160,800.
“We are looking at the (GI Derby City) Distaff on Derby Day and we are looking at the Madison (Keeneland), but the Madison is only four weeks away,” added co-owner Michael Talla. “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.”
Splendora was bred in Maryland by The Elkstone Group LLC.
