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Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar is battle of Eclipse Award winners

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It will be Eclipse Award winner versus Eclipse Award winner in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday.

Beholder, a three-time reigning Eclipse Award winner, was Del Mar’s horse of the meeting last year after becoming the first female horse to win the Pacific Classic (by 8 1/4 lengths). She has won eight consecutive races, 17 of 22 lifetime, and has $4.7 million in earnings.

With Gary Stevens aboard, she has won 11 of 12 races, and the Hall of Fame jockey will be up again for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella as Beholder takes on Stellar Wind, who has her own Eclipse Award.

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Beholder defeated Stellar Wind by 1 1/2 lengths on June 4 at Santa Anita. The rematch Saturday will be over 1 1/16 miles in a race for older female horses, a race Beholder won by seven lengths last year.

“We’re the strong second choice. There’s no question about that,” Stellar Wind trainer John Sadler said. “[Beholder]’s the champion. She’s just very, very good. But we don’t give them away in California. You’ve got to run the races.”

Stellar Wind finished second to Stopchargingmaria in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last year to earn the Eclipse for champion 3-year-old filly.

“It’s a little rare,” Sadler pointed out, “two Eclipse Awards winners don’t always meet up six or seven months later.”

Stellar Wind won the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar last August. She is five for nine lifetime with nearly $1 million in earnings.

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She also had an eight-month layoff between the Breeders’ Cup and last month’s Vanity Mile. But Sadler and Triple Crown-winning jockey Victor Espinoza like the way she came back.

“I expect an exciting race,” Sadler said. “In the same sense, we know she’s running against a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

Beholder drew the No. 1 post with Stellar Wind in the next gate. Espinoza joked that he would grab onto the front-running Beholder and “let her pull me for a while.”

Mandella will also saddle Off the Road with Martin Pedroza on the reins. Martin Garcia rides The Dream for Jerry Hollendorfer, and Joe Talamo gets Divina Comedia for Simon Callaghan.

“I have a lot of respect for Stellar Wind,” Mandella said. “She’s a very good filly. We’re not taking anything for granted.”

A clean win by Beholder should have her pointed to a showdown with California Chrome in the Aug. 20 Pacific Classic.

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Sadler’s not so sure about Stellar Wind in the Classic. “Talk to me after Saturday,” he said.

The winner also gets an automatic entry in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Said Sadler, “We like to stalk. It should be Beholder in front, and we’ll try to catch her.”

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