Splendora Heavy Favorite in G1 Beholder Mile, Aims for Fifth Straight

Splendora towers over the B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile field as she goes for a fifth consecutive victory at Santa Anita, carrying Juan J. Hernandez for trainer Bob Baffert. The 5-year-old Audible mare enters the Grade 1, $300,000 one-mile dirt test at Santa Anita with an 11: 6-4-0 record and $980,800 in career earnings after opening her 2026 campaign with a victory in the GII D. Wayne Lukas Stakes on Feb. 7.

The Beholder Mile lineup includes Nafisa, also trained by Bob Baffert, who will be ridden by Kazushi Kimura after winning the GIII La Canada Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 24 at Santa Anita. Morning-line odds and ratings from HorseracingNation peg Splendora at 4-5 with a rating of 7.87, while Nafisa is listed at 8-1 with a 7.62 rating. Those numbers underline Splendora’s status as the betting favorite and position Nafisa as the most prominent stablemate threat.

Challengers from east and west add tactical variety to the seven-horse field. Bless the Broken, a 4-year-old by Laoban trained by Brad H. Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, returned from a seven-month layoff to win a Fair Grounds allowance at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 9 and brings stakes form that includes a 2025 Bourbonette Oaks victory and a third-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks. Simply Joking, trained by Michael W. McCarthy and to be ridden for the first time by Emisael Jaramillo, finished third in the G1 La Brea at seven furlongs on Dec. 28 and carries a HorseracingNation morning line of 5-1 with a 7.42 rating. Eastern invader Dazzling Move, by Not This Time and trained by Saffie A. Joseph Jr., lists Tyler Gaffalione aboard and appears off a fifth-place finish in the Inside Information G2. Om N Joy, with Kent Desormeaux up for trainer Aggie Ordonez, shows a 5-1 morning line and a 7.55 rating on HorseracingNation.

Race logistics place the B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile presented by FanDuel on the Santa Anita card for Saturday, March 7, 2026, as Race 4 with a scheduled local post time of 1:34 PM. The track’s first post for the card is listed as 12:00 p.m. PT in other reporting, so bettors and media planning to follow the card should note the difference between the day’s first post and the specific scheduled post for the Beholder Mile.

Beyond the formlines, the Beholder carries commercial and cultural weight. FanDuel presenting the race ties the classic female division to the mainstream wagering marketplace, and Splendora’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint title from 2025 elevates the mare division’s profile heading into the Santa Anita meet. Splendora’s run toward $1,000,000 in earnings would be a tangible milestone for owner By Talla Racing, which has announced new partners for the mare without disclosing names.

The matchup sets up a clear narrative: can Splendora extend a four-race streak and convert favoritism into her millionth-dollar payday, or will a challenger such as Nafisa, Bless the Broken, Simply Joking, Dazzling Move, or Om N Joy upset the chalk? Trainers Bob Baffert, Brad Cox, Michael McCarthy, Saffie Joseph Jr., and Aggie Ordonez all bring distinct campaigns to Santa Anita, making the Beholder Mile a litmus test for older fillies and mares and a focal point for wagering interest when gates open for Race 4 at 1:34 PM local on March 7.