Beholder's $4 Million Baby Learning the Ropes in Ocala

A son of two fan-favorite Hall of Famers, the impeccably-bred colt by champion Curlin and out of champion Beholder was sure to bring the house down when he entered the ring this summer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and the striking chestnut did not disappoint as the hammer dropped at $4 million to Donato Lanni on behalf of Zedan Racing, making the Spendthrift-bred, Taylor Made-consigned colt the highest-priced horse to sell at Saratoga in over two decades.

Since then, the youngster's pedigree has grown even more impressive as his elder sister Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) won the GI Del Mar Debutante S. in jaw-dropping fashion. The 'TDN Rising Star' was the heavy favorite going into the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, but finished seventh and came out of the race with a small fracture in a hind splint bone.

In the meantime, Zedan Racing's $4 million purchase–who was the first of Beholder's babies to go to public auction–was sent to Eddie Woods Stables and has slowly been learning the ropes of the racetrack in sunny Ocala. The colt is now just days away from turning two and veteran Woods says that his charge is taking every step in the right direction.

“We've taken him through the paces slowly,” Woods reported. “He's now been galloping on the track about three weeks. He's jogging about half a mile and he's cantering a mile and we'll kind of keep it at that for a while. We're probably going to be giving him a little bit of a break here after a while just to get over the breaking process.”

The yearling earned a bit of a reputation in Saratoga when he was on his toes in the sales ring and put in one hair-raising rear, but Woods said that the colt has been nothing but straightforward in his demeanor. One only needs to watch as the young athlete steps through the gate without so much as batting an eye to agree.

“He was a little wiry one day in public so everyone just thinks that's the way they are and it's not always the case,” Woods said. “He's a good-feeling horse and he'll be on it a little bit, but he behaves himself well and he's good in traffic. He moves well and he's been a pretty straightforward kind of colt.”

Fans of this exciting prospect and his talented family will have to wait well into 2024 to see him near his debut.

“He's not a horse that is going to be running four-and-a-half or five furlongs or anything like that,” Woods said. “He won't run until probably Del Mar or something. You can put in a lot of unnecessary miles on him, so we'll just give him a chance to grow up and get over being broken and just be a horse.”

Woods has had plenty of sons and daughters of leading sire Curlin at his successful training facility and he's trained almost as many seven-figure yearlings, but he said this is the first foal from Beholder's impressive family that he has had the privilege of working with and added that this colt might have the highest price tag in his stable's history.

“We've had a lot of expensive horses, but we haven't had a $4 million one here before,” he noted. “So it's pretty cool. He's a lovely-looking horse.”