Richard Mandella has a hard time turning loose. Good horses seem to enter his barn and linger. The South American Sandpit hit the Mandella stable as a 3-year-old and left at age 10. Same deal for The Tin Man, who did some of his best work at 9, while the gray mare Bels Starlet was a precocious stakes winner at 2 and is still throwing strikes for Mandella as a 7-year-old.For the past five seasons, Mandella and his crew have served at the pleasure of Beholder, and Beholder has taken them on an unforgettable ride, from the high points of a triumph like the 2015 Pacific Classic to the lows of a tough loss in the Kentucky Oaks and a nasty injury in her only New York experience.Time after time, Beholder has come back from forced layoffs to hit the mark, earning a record of 17 wins and 6 seconds in 25 starts, more than $5 million in earnings, and a space on the wall of the Hall of Fame dusted and ready for her induction five years after she retires.But there is no rest yet for a champion, and Beholder will be in for a fierce battle on Nov. 4 when she goes postward in the 33rd running of the $2 million Breeders Cup Distaff against fellow Eclipse Award winners Songbird and Stellar Wind.Theres a lot at stake. With a win, Beholder could join Goldikova as the only horses to win three Breeders Cup races since the series began in 1984. (Beholder won the Juvenile Fillies in 2012 and the Distaff in 2013.) With a win, she could nail down a fourth championship season, something no other mare has done in the history of the sport. And with a win, Beholder could erase the taste of the first three-race losing streak of her noble career, after seconds to Stellar Wind in the Clement Hirsch and the Zenyatta and to California Chrome in the Pacific Classic.Beholder feels right at home at Santa Anita, where she has trained for the vast majority of her career. Much is made of a perceived home-court advantage for horses trained at the Breeders Cup site, although when it comes to this one, Mandella takes the idea to extremes.Every one of Mandellas eight Breeders Cup wins and two of his three seconds have come at Santa Anita, including his four-bagger in 2003 with Pleasantly Perfect, Johar, Action This Day, and Halfbridled. Kotashaan and Phone Chatter clinched championships at Santa Anitas 1993 running of the Cup, while Beholder added Mandellas most recent pair.Theres no doubt running out of your own stall has to help, Mandella said. But its not like I havent tried winning out of town.Mandella enters the 2016 Breeders Cup with 38 starters, 19 of those coming outside of California. The best of them was the second-place finish of Chamnp Pegasus in the 2010 Turf at Churchill Downs. That makes him a daunting 8 for 19 at Santa Anita.This year, besides Beholder, Mandella will try to win his first Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Avenge, front-running winner of the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita last time out.Still, the story of the stable is Beholder. One week out from the Distaff, Mandella was busy ignoring all the elephants crowding his stable office.At 6, Beholder figures to be ripe for retirement by owner Wayne Hughes. Mandella insisted the subject hadnt come up, at least not within earshot of Beholder.We havent talked about it, Mandella said. We just do our job.There is also the issue of Beholders failure to answer the bell for the past two runnings of the Distaff -- first in 2014 at Santa Anita when she spiked a temperature 12 days before the race, and then last year at Keeneland when she bled after a routine gallop following her arrival in Kentucky.The idea that something might happen this time around to spoil the party nags like an itch nobody can scratch. Anyway, theres not enough wood on which to knock when Mandella pronounces her healthy, fit, and ready for perhaps the toughest test of her career.She looks pretty good to me, Mandella said Friday. But then, Im prejudiced.Beholder was loitering in her stall after a quiet morning, having worked a smooth three-quarters in 1:14 and change the day before under her Distaff jockey, Gary Stevens. Everything went by the book, except for what looked like a white handkerchief that escaped from beneath her saddle pad just behind the girth a few jumps into the work.They put a little piece of soft cotton under her pad because the girth tends to rub her there, Mandella said. Maybe thats what came out. But nobody mentioned it to me.Probably just as well, and the work was just what the trainer wanted after a fast move the previous week.We werent testing her any, Mandella noted. Just like any race the week before, it was just to give her a nice spin around the block. Shell get some good gallops now leading up to the race. But mostly Ill just sit here and look at her.And if this is goodbye?Itll leave a hole, for sure, Mandella said. But weve had that happen before. Never one quite like her, though. I really havent given it much thought. But when it does happen I sure will. Pete Maravich Jazz Jersey . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. John Stockton Jazz Jersey .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. http://www.jazzauthentic.com/kids-tony-bradley-jazz-jersey/ .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. 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MILAN -- A mix between Diego Maradona and Gonzalo Higuain?Plaudits dont get much better for a Napoli player, but that is just some of the praise that is being heaped on Dries Mertens after another fantastic display on Sunday.After scoring a hat trick against Cagliari the previous week, Mertens went one better against Torino, putting four past England goalkeeper Joe Hart.Mertens completed his hat trick in nine first-half minutes and then saved the best until last -- a sublime chip into the far corner in the 80th minute.The Belgium winger is now drawing comparisons to Higuain for his number of goals and Maradona for his style of play.Indeed, Mertens fourth goal was Maradona-esque.Lets say Ive got a way to go, Mertens said when asked about the comparison.Maradona is still revered in Naples after leading the team to its only two league titles in 1987 and 1990.No one has scored successive hat tricks in Serie A since 1974, while it was the quickest treble since Andriy Shevchenko scored three in seven minutes for AC Milan in 2000.The last Napoli player to net four goals in a top-flight match was Giuseppe Savoldi on December 18, 1977 -- a gap of exactly 39 years.Mertens emergence has eased the pain caused by Higuains departure in the offseason. Higuain transferred to Juventus for an Italian-record 90 million euros ($100 million) after breaking a 66-year-old Serie A record with 36 goals for Napoli last season.Arkadiusz Milik was signed to replace him and scored seven goals in eight matches, but tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing for Poland in October.As a result, Napoli coach Mauurizio Sarri has been relying on a three-man forward line with Mertens as a falso nueve -- false No.dddddddddddd 9 -- flanked by Jose Callejon and Lorenzo Insigne. And the trio is starting to gel.Mertens has netted eight goals in his past three matches in all competition, and a total of 10 in the league. Not bad for a player who is not even a forward.Hes scored 10 goals like Higuain or am I mistaken? Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis said after the 5-3 win over Torino.Both players are level in the scoring charts, with two goals less than Inter Milan forward Mauro Icardi, Roma striker Edin Dzeko and Torino youngster Andrea Belotti.I feel good playing in this team, Mertens said. We are doing a great job and the coach is instilling in us his way of playing, which I think is the best for this team.Unlike previous Napoli stars who have left the club at the height of their powers in recent years -- such as Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, who went to Paris Saint-Germain, or Higuain -- Mertens seems to have a genuine love for the city.The 29-year-old Belgian, who joined from PSV Eindhoven in 2013, often posts pictures on social media of himself around Naples, along with captions calling the city home or saying no place Id rather be. Mertens and his wife also went to a Halloween party dressed as two of his teammates -- Insigne and Marek Hamsik.The latest photo Mertens posted, on Monday morning, was of a figurine of himself -- in his Napoli kit -- looking out over the city. ' ' '