California’s glamour mare Beholder has made her first trip[ to New York for her rematch with Kentucky Oaks winner Princess Of Sylmar in the $1 million Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont on Saturday.

The two met on neutral ground at Churchill Downs in the Oaks, when Princess Of Sylmar came away with the victory and Beholder finished second by half a length.

They met again when Princess Of Sylmar left her East Coast base to tackle Beholder in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita where Richard Mandella’s star got her revenge.

Princess Of Sylmar faded at the end of her long 3YO campaign that included four straight Grade I victories for trainer Todd Pletcher. She has since come back with a solid season debut in the Cat Cay Stakes at Aqueduct in April.

"This is a huge race," Pletcher said. "It's a Breeders' Cup quality field, and it's exciting.

“We're very respectful of how good Beholder is as well as Close Hatches. We're excited about the opportunity to get to run against them on a track where Princess Of Sylmar has had success."

Princess Of Sylmar won the Beldame Invitational at Belmont last September over champion Royal Delta before her Breeder's Cup loss.

This time tables are turned, with Beholder's reputation on the line for her first start in New York.

"That's what racing is about; don't leave them in the stall and talk about it, you have to actually do it," Mandella said.

"It's not an easy race, I know how good both of these fillies are but I couldn't love my filly any more.

“She's done more than we've ever imagined, so we're just excited to be here."

Beholder, a five-time G1 winner, sails into the 1 1/16-mile contest worthy of her status as the favorite after her only race so far this year saw her blitz the April 20 Santa Lucia Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths geared down to the wire.

Juddmonte's Close Hatches is undefeated this season and comes off a wire-to-wire victory in the April 11 G1 Apple Blossom Handicap after taking the March 15 G3 Azeri Stakes, both at Oaklawn Park.

The 4-year-old was second to Beholder last year in the Distaff by 4 1/4 lengths after winning back-to-back G1 races, the Mother Goose and Cotillion.

Mandella feels the race is Beholder's to lose.

"She looks great, settled in good, had an easy breeze over the track, so I don't think we could be better," Mandella said of his charge. "She's very mature and as her record shows, she grew up pretty fast.

“Now she's just kind of settled into a groove, and hopefully that groove is as good as it was."

• THE 2014 renewal of the G1 Manhattan Stakes on turf on Saturday features three great trainers - Shug McGaughey, Bill Mott and Christophe Clement - who have won each won the $1 million turf race three times.

Hall of Fame conditioners Mott and McGaughey will be represented by favorites Seek Again and Imagining while Clement looks to strike with outsider Chamois.

The race is one of six G1 races on the Belmont Stakes card.

Seek Again has done most of his racing in England, where he won a minor stakes at York last October.

In two US starts he won the Hollywood Derby (G1T) in December before beginning his 2014 campaign with a head-bobbing second to two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the G1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

"He seems to be coming into this race as good as he was going into the Turf Classic," said Mott.

"I just hope his level of fitness is the same and he feels like running."

Mott’s last Manhattant winner was in 1999 with Yagli. He also won with Paradise Creek, who established the course record in the 1994 race, and 1990 with Phantom Breeze.

Imagining has been red hot of late for McGaughey, winning three of his past four startsl. He comes off a front-running three-quarter-length win in the G1 Man o' War Stakes on the Belmont turf, where he has recorded five of his eight career wins.

“He’s doing great," said McGaughey. "He came out of his last race good and has had two decent works since then."

Since adding blinkers six starts ago, Imagining has won four starts from off the pace.

The trainer previously won the Manhattan last year with Point of Entry, Dancing Forever (2008) and Good Reward (2005).

Imagining will be facing two rivals he beat in the Man o' War, runner-up Real Solution and third-place finisher Grandeur.

Clement’s Chamois is coming off a close third in the G2 turf Dixie Stakes on the Preakness card on May 17.

That was the first start of the year for the 4-year-old who is seeking his first win in five tries on the Belmont turf.

Clement's prior wins in the Manhattan came with Gio Ponti and Winchester in 2009 and 2010 and Forbidden Apple in 2001.

Trainer Chad Brown, who won the 2012 Manhattan with Desert Blanc, enters Real Solution after his big effort in the Man o'War when he made a big run at Imagining in the stretch but was repulsed late.

Seven-year-old Boisterous, the 2013 Man o' War winner previously trained by McGaughey, now runs for Todd Pletcher, who is yet to win the Manhattan.

Boisterous was third in the Woodford Reserve last time and has won once in three tries for his new connections.

• DISCREET MARQ, who has run up an impressive eight-race streak of finishing first or second, will take on a classy, hard-knocking field of fillies and mares in the $750,000 Just A Game Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday.

Discreet Marq has compiled her impressive record on both coasts on turf , winning the G1 Del Mar Oaks on turf in California and the Sands Point Stakes, Pebbles Stakes, and an overnight state-bred stakes at Belmont Park.

She also has been second in the G1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park, beaten a nose; second in the G1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, beaten a half-length; second in the G1 Garden City Stakes at Belmont, beaten 1 1/2 lengths; and second in the Sweetest Chant Stakes at Gulfstream Park, beaten a neck.

"She is an amazing filly," said trainer Christophe Clement. "She is so athletic, it's unbelievable.

Discreet Marq has won six of 14 lifetime starts, with four seconds and two thirds, for earnings of $815,900.

The Just a Game will not be an easy task, as she will have to face the likes of Stephanie's Kitten and Better Lucky, the one-two finishers in last year's Just A Game.