Kentucky-bred Tamara has every right to be a top runner. The daughter of Bolt d’Oro is out of the brilliant race mare and multiple champion Beholder. The precocious filly appears to have inherited her sire and dam’s penchant for running fast.
At the end of the seven-furlong Del Mar Debutante (G1) on Saturday, Sept. 9, Tamara found herself cruising to a 6 ¾-length victory after crushing her foes in the fast time of 1:22.41. Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith was merely along for the ride as the filly did it all by herself. In her only other outing, Tamara broke her maiden in splendid fashion at Del Mar on Aug. 19.
With the first-place purse money of $180,000 in the Del Mar Debutante, Tamara has now banked $229,200 in her pair of starts. A homebred for Spendthrift Farm, Tamara is trained by Richard Mandella.
“Very exciting,” said Mandella. “I expected her to run good but that was a little beyond. Watching it, he (Mike Smith) had so much horse that he didn’t want to restrict her. He just had her do what she wanted to do. She’s very quick, so I thought he would put her right there and we both agreed to that, just see what everybody else does.”
Mike Smith said of the winning effort, “She’s been doing things in her training that 2-year-olds aren’t supposed to do. She’s really special. She’s like her mother. You don’t see that usually. Those great mares, they normally don’t have great foals. But this one might be. I just held on today. I didn’t want to fall off. She was doing it all herself. What can I say, she’s very special.”
Kentucky-bred Beholder is a four-time Eclipse Award winner and three-time Breeders’ Cup victress. Beaten just a nose in the 2012 Del Mar Debutante, Beholder went on to win that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Tamara is the mare’s fourth foal and second stakes winner, following Teena Ella, winner of this year’s Senorita Stakes (G3).