Beholder Mile Stakes

The Beholder Mile Stakes is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares aged three and up. It is run over a distance of one mile on the dirt each year in March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

The event was inaugurated in 1940 as the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California over the current distance of one mile.

In 1968 Gamely won carrying a record weight for a winner of 131 pounds in the race. Her owner William Haggin Perry had the three placegetters in the race which carried a record high stakes amount for the fillies and mares of $79,650.^[2]

Originally an open handicap for fillies and mares aged three years and up, in 1987 it was changed to an invitational handicap for selected fillies and mares. Over the next three decades, the race switched between open handicap and invitational handicap formats. Following the closure of Hollywood Park, the race moved to Santa Anita Park in 2014. In that same year, the event was changed from the handicap format to a weight-for-age race with allowances for horses who had not recently won a graded stakes race.^[3]

In 2016 it was announced that the race would be renamed the Vanity Mile and the distance reduced accordingly. In 2017 it was announced that the race would be renamed after the Champion Mare Beholder.^[4][1]

The race is normally run on dirt, except between 2007 and 2013 when Hollywood Park used a synthetic Cushion Track surface.^[1]

The race was not run in 1942 and 1943 due to wartime restrictions.

The race has since been contested at various distances:

• 1 mile – 1940; 2016–present;
• 1+1⁄16 miles – 1941, 1944–1949, 1951–1953;
• 1+1⁄8 miles – 1950, 1954–1985, 1988–2015;
• 1+1⁄4 miles – 1986–1987.

Time record:

• 1:35.60 for 1 mile – Unique Bella (2018)
• 1:46.20 for 1+1⁄8 miles – Princess Rooney (1984)

Most wins:

• 3 – Zenyatta (2008, 2009, 2010)

• The Vanity Invitational Handicap at Pedigree Query
• The Vanity Invitational Handicap at the NTRA^{[permanent dead link]}