She's back!
The beautifully-bred Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) returned to the races Saturday off nearly a year-long layoff and did so with a statement win in the GIII Chillingworth at Santa Anita.
The Spendthrift homebred set hearts aflame as a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' juvenile, emulating the success of her mother to start her career two-for-for including a 6 3/4-length stroll in the GI Del Mar Debutante. The heavy favorite headed into the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita in 2023, she faltered home in seventh and exited the race with a reported injury.
While Mandella reported after that the injury would not require surgery, Tamara was sidelined for over a year, returning to run second by a nose in an optional claiming race back at Del Mar in Nov. 2024. Another layoff followed as the talented filly had another setback, this one requiring surgery, that sat her out for much of her 4-year-old year.
Back in a big way for Spendthrift Farm who continued to have a strong run of success through the weekend (their Tommy Jo {Into Mischief} captured Friday's GI Darley Alcibiades), Tamara was welcomed back by the betting public too as the 2-5 favorite. Drawn in the middle of this five-horse field, the homebred sat cozy in a stalking second as Bob Baffert runner Silent Law (Tiz the Law) opened up the pace up the backstretch. Never seeming in any hurry even as Silent Law looked to try and steal away around the far turn, Tamara began to move under a motionless Mike Smith and pulled Silent Law back to her in a matter of strides. The top two turned for home as one but it was clear from the eighth pole that Tamara had found another gear and drew off in convincing fashion as Smith hand rode her to a geared-down win.
Silent Law was over 14 lengths clear of Ang N Ash (Audible), a filly who outran her 48-1 odds and picked up a nice pedigree update Saturday when her 2-year-old half-brother Local Knowledge (Yaupon) became a new 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' at Keeneland.
“She was very eager leaving there,” said Smith. “She actually wanted to go head-to-head with (Silent Law) and I had to talk her out of it a little bit. Once she hit her left lead, she hit another gear. I thought, 'Oh my. She's back.' I think I'm blowing more than she is from just trying to pull her up.”
Mandella added: “You really couldn't ask for it to go any better today. Now we have to see how she comes out of this race.”
Pedigree Note:
Tamara's pedigree certainly needs little introduction. She's one of 19 stakes winners for Spendthrift stallion Bolt d'Oro and out of a mare who earned over $6,000,000 on the track and was named an Eclipse winning juvenile, 3-year-old and twice older mare. Besides her racing career, Beholder is out of blue-hen mare Leslie's Lady, making her a half-sister to both GISW and sire Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) and GISW and leading general sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday). Another half-sister in Leslie's Harmony (Curlin) produced a champion in Saudi Arabia with Scotland Yard (Quality Road). As a broodmare for Spendthrift Farm, who purchased her as a yearling in 2011 at Keeneland for just $180,000, Beholder has two winners from four to race including another graded winner in GIII Senorita Stakes winner Teena Ella (War Front). Most recently, she has a yearling filly by Jackie's Warrior, ventured outside of Spendthrift to foal Gun Runner colt this year and returned to her home shed to visit National Treasure for 2026.
Saturday, Santa Anita
CHILLINGWORTH S.-GIII, $100,000, Santa Anita, 10-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:15.21, ft.
1–TAMARA, 126, f, 4, by Bolt d'Oro
1st Dam: Beholder (Ch. 3-year-old Filly, Ch. Older
Mare, Ch. 2-year-old Filly, Ch. Older Mare,
MGISW, $6,156,600), by Henny Hughes
2nd Dam: Leslie's Lady, by Tricky Creek
3rd Dam: Crystal Lady, by Stop the Music
'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard'. O/B-Spendthrift
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella; J-Mike E. Smith.
$60,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 5-3-1-0, $321,400. *1/2 to
Teena Ella (War Front), GSW, $128,740. Werk Nick Rating:
A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Silent Law, 120, f, 3, Tiz the Law–Southern Silence, by Dixie
Union. ($80,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; $190,000 RNA 2yo '24
OBSAPR; $400,000 2yo '24 OBSOPN). O-CSLR Racing Partners
LLC; B-Newstead Corp (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $20,000.
3–Ang N Ash, 122, f, 4, Audible–Chestnut Street, by Scat Daddy.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($105,000 Ylg '22
KEESEP; $30,000 2yo '23 OBSOPN). O-R. B. Shapiro Racing LLC
and Ryan Hanson; B-Stoneriggs Farm (KY); T-Ryan Hanson.
$12,000.
Margins: 3 3/4, 14HF, 1 1/4. Odds: 0.40, 3.30, 48.10.
Also Ran: Chismosa, Baela. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
TAMARA ($2.80) IS BACK!!@mikeesmith10 sat chilly aboard the daughter of MG1W Beholder in the $100,000 Chillingworth Stakes (G3) at @santaanitapark. The 4YO filly by Bolt d'Oro is trained by Richard Mandella and owned & bred by @spendthriftfarm. pic.twitter.com/gFi2K7QcZE
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) October 4, 2025
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