When the Timeform writers stated in 1984 that Sadler’s Wells had proved capable of showing top-class form at a mile, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half, they could equally well have been describing the career of Sadler’s Wells’ son Beat Hollow.
His career began and ended over a mile, and in between there were nine outings over distances of nine, ten and 12 furlongs. Like his father before him, Beat Hollow was classy enough to be placed in a Derby over 1½ miles but neither father or son ever won beyond 1¼ miles.
Beat Hollow’s potential had already become crystal clear to the work watchers before he made his debut over a mile in the September of his two-year-old season. Starting long odds on against 11 opponents, he was clear before the final furlong and won very easily by three lengths. The performance was enough to earn Beat Hollow a 25-1 quote from Ladbrokes for the 2000 Vodafone Derby, but those odds were to shorten considerably over the next few months.
Although Sadler’s Wells’ progeny have a reputation for being at their best on soft ground, Beat Hollow was to prove an exception to this rule. He was already favourite for the Derby by the time he was scheduled to make his reappearance in the Classic Trial at Sandown, but had to be withdrawn when the ground turned very soft. Instead, Beat Hollow reappeared six days later on good going to win the Newmarket Stakes, a Listed race over 1¼ miles.
The Racing Post summed up the colt’s performance as follows:
“Beat Hollow cemented his standing as Vodafone Derby favourite when making an impressive seasonal debut at Newmarket yesterday which left his trainer Henry Cecil predicting that there was better to come, writes Richard Griffiths.
“With Richard Quinn deciding to make much of the running because of a slow early pace, Beat Hollow quickened clear of his four rivals to win the Green Ridge Stables Newmarket Stakes (Listed) without his rider ever having to pick up his whip. Beat Hollow had already been eased by the time stablemate Sandmason -also now a Derby contender - ran through to take second, a length and a quarter away. Cecil said afterwards that Beat Hollow could be expected to improve for the run, which nevertheless left most bookmakers impressed.”
“Although Ladbrokes have retained the son of Sadler's Wells as their 6-1 Derby favourite, Coral cut him to 5-1 (from 8-1) and William Hill to 11-2 (from 7-1).”
The Dante Stakes was nominated as Beat Hollow’s final preparatory race for the Derby but plans were ruined by an outbreak of illness in the Cecil yard. Because of mucus in his lungs, Beat Hollow missed the Dante Stakes and didn’t recover quickly enough to be able to run in the last of the Derby trials, the Predominate Stakes. Instead, he was sent to Yarmouth for a racecourse gallop at the end of May, as Tony Elves reported in the Racing Post:
“BEAT HOLLOW barely broke sweat at Yarmouth yesterday afternoon when cruising through an important barrier in his preparation for the Vodafone Derby. The Epsom second favourite comfortably ‘won’ an 11-furlong gallop with stablemates Wellbeing and Sandmason, and trainer Henry Cecil’s delight at proceedings was reflected by bookmakers. Coral and William Hill clipped Beat Hollow a point to 4-1 and 5-1 respectively for Epsom behind favourite King’s Best, but Ladbrokes were steady at 6-1.
“Cecil said afterwards that both Beat Hollow and Wellbeing were ‘on course for the Derby provided we don’t get any more setbacks.’'
“The three horses had a quick turn in front of the stands and were soon into their stride, with Sandmason bowling along three lengths in front and the two Sadler's Wells colts following in indian file. The pace looked steady as they turned into the straight, with Beat Hollow travelling ominously well. He took up the running from Sandmason in the final three furlongs, with Wellbeing having to be urged by Ryan to hold his place.
“Beat Hollow was eased into a length lead at the finish, with Sandmason coming back on to the scene to finish upsides Wellbeing. Cecil said: ‘I’m happy with that, and they all worked well.’ Beat Hollow maybe has the better turn of foot, and Wellbeing would be better suited by a better gallop in the Derby, but both worked really nicely and had a normal blow.”
It is well worth stressing that these were no ordinary galloping companions. Sandmason went on to defeat Zindabad and Mutafaweq in the Gr.2 Hardwicke Stakes, while Wellbeing went within a short head of winning the Gr.1 Coronation Cup and later defeated Sakhee in the Gr.3 Prix Gontaut-Biron.
The gallop allowed Beat Hollow to take his chance in the Derby in what proved to be a vintage field. In finishing third behind the future Arc winners Sinndar and Sakhee, 4 lengths ahead of the fourth-placed Best of the Bests, Beat Hollow ran very creditably – especially as he didn’t have a clear run coming to the final quarter mile. However, Henry Cecil believed the distance played a part in his colt’s defeat:
“It was only his third race, but I’m not sure whether he actually stays. He’s got lots of speed and was going very well, and he flattened out a little bit. I know it’s difficult with the camber and everything, but I’m not convinced he got the trip.
“We’ll have to sit and think. He could be a mile-and-a-quarter horse, rather than a mile-and-a-half horse.”
Cecil’s theory received support a few weeks later, when Beat Hollow dropped back to 2000 metres in the Gr.1 Grand Prix de Paris and won well against a field which again included Best of the Bests. This improved his record to three wins from four starts.
Beat Hollow stayed in training with Henry Cecil in 2001, but once again the stable had illness problems and Beat Hollow was troubled by congestion in his lungs which prevented him from meeting his engagement in the Coral-Eclipse.
“It’s a shame he wasn’t ready for Sandown,” Henry Cecil told the press, “as I think he would have gone close.
“Hopefully, he will run in the mile-and-a-quarter race at Newbury and then we will be thinking of races like the Juddmonte International at York and the Champion Stakes at Newmarket.”
Instead, Beat Hollow and some of his stablemates were transferred to Bobby Frankel in the USA. Frankel had Beat Hollow back on the track by the end of January, 2002, with impressive results. Racing over 1 1/8 miles on a firm track at Santa Anita, Beat Hollow won smoothly to earn a tilt at the very valuable Explosive Bid Handicap in March.
“I got blown into the back seat,” said winning rider Alex Solis of Beat Hollow’s acceleration. “He can fly. He was fresh and hadn’t run in a while.”
After finishing a neck second in the Gr.2 Explosive Bid Handicap in March, Beat Hollow raced exclusively in Grade 1 company, with excellent results.
“BEAT HOLLOW, third when favourite for the Derby at Epsom two years ago, took his first major step towards stardom in the US with victory in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes on the Kentucky Derby card at Churchill Downs on Saturday,” Dan Farley wrote in the Racing Post.
The 8-5 favourite, ridden by Alex Solis, followed pacesetter Climate through the first six furlongs of the nine-furlong race, came four wide entering the straight, and then easily held off With Anticipation by a length and a half.
Beat Hollow completed the distance on firm ground in 1min 47.35sec. Hap, the 4-1 second favourite, was third, less than a length behind the runner-up and half a length ahead of the previous year’s winner, White Heart. Solis said of the winner: “We always knew he was a great horse. He’s so easy to ride, and versatile.”
With Anticipation, the runner-up in the Turf Classic, went on to gain three Gr.1 successes over the next few months and provided the main opposition to High Chaparral in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Beat Hollow also continued in excellent form, with the G1 Manhattan Handicap the next step up the ladder. The Thoroughbred Daily News reported on his victory:
“Beat Hollow put up a tour-de-force performance, making every yard of the running for his second straight Grade 1 victory…..Away alertly, Beat Hollow dragged Alex Solis to the front, clipped off solid fractions over the good turf and maintained his authority to the wire. ‘I told Alex to put him on the lead,’ explained winning trainer Bobby Frankel. ‘He ran a great race. I think he would have won even if he didn’t have an easy lead. He’s a very good turf horse.’”
Solis wasn’t so happy after Beat Hollow’s next start, in the Gr.1 Eddie Read Handicap, when his defeat by Sarafan was firmly attributed to pilot error, as The Blood-Horse described:
“A crafty move on the far turn made all the difference, however. With heavily-favored Beat Hollow still plugged up down the inside, Nakatani shot Sarafan through a small hole and drew a bead on Redattore and Night Patrol. By the time Beat Hollow untangled himself from the mess, Sarafan was long gone.”
Beat Hollow, who was giving 5lb to Sarafan, was flying at the finish and his misfortunes were so obvious that he started odds on when the pair met again on a firm track in the Gr.1 Arlington Million. Jerry Bailey replaced Solis and was seen at his confident best, steering Beat Hollow to another victory over Sarafan.
“He’d be much more effective cutting back to a mile,” Bailey said afterwards. “I’ve seen him run a mile and an eighth, and he’s got a very explosive move. Today that move was not quite as explosive. It was enough to win, and you’ve got to give him credit for that. I think if you added another quarter of a mile, it would play into the hands of the horses who really want to go a mile and a half, and not a horse like him with tactical speed and a big burst.”
Beat Hollow’s works on the Belmont dirt course also supported Bailey’s theory. For example, he was the fastest of the 12 horses which worked three furlongs at Belmont on September 15, covering the distance in 0:36.5. Only seven of the 89 horses which worked over four furlongs on October 15 covered the distance in faster time than Beat Hollow’s 0:48.3. In between those works, Beat Hollow travelled to Keeneland to contest the Shadwell Keeneland Turf Mile Stakes, again on firm going. Competing against a classic-winning specialist miler in Landseer, winner of the French 2,000 Guineas and a fine second to Rock of Gibraltar at Royal Ascot, Beat Hollow emerged with a lot of credit. After taking the lead entering the short finishing stretch, Beat Hollow didn’t surrender his advantage until the sixteenth pole and was only ¾ length behind Landseer at the line.
Unfortunately the weather turned against Beat Hollow for his last appearance, when he started third favourite behind Rock of Gibraltar in the 14-runner Breeders’ Cup Mile. Unsuited by the tacky, yielding going, he couldn’t produce his customary acceleration and finished sixth.
This was the only time in a very honourable, consistent career that Beat Hollow failed to finish in the first three. From 12 starts – eight of them at Gr.1 level – he gained seven wins, two seconds and two thirds, for earnings equivalent to more than $1,800,000. His record was similar to Sadler’s Wells’, which stood at six wins, three seconds and a fourth from 11 starts.