Now I know when I’ll be in Saratoga: Jess Jackson confirmed today that Rachel Alexandra will start in the August 29 G1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga:
It’s an historic race, named after a great champion. The timing is right for Rachel. She’s been coming back into her stride and this will help her prepare for the rest of her campaign and the Breeders’ Cup later this year.
A Sacramento horse owner and the silks custodian at Cal Expo are in trouble with the California Horse Racing Board for allowing a horse to improperly race in the colors of the Confederate battle flag during the state fair meet July 15.
The horse, Mute Rudulph, won the fourth race that day in his racing debut for owners Bill Wilbur, Chris Carpenter, and Bill McLean, who also trains the horse. The 2-year-old bay colt is named after Ken Rudulph, a host for the horse racing network TVG. Rudulph, who is African-American, is coincidentally from Sacramento.
The CHRB alleges that track colors man Tony Baze “received financial consideration and conspired to aid and abet” with Wilbur to substitute the “Southern Cross” for the horse’s designated colors.
The Rachel Alexandra of 2009 won’t be back because that horse has been absorbed by another. The reigning Horse of the Year has developed into a recognizable but somewhat different racehorse — different, but still superbly talented. She also appears — not surprisingly since she’s older — to be more tractable, perhaps even more poised and relaxed, than she was a year ago. In other words, this filly, this 2010 version, although not quite as quick, could be even better suited to 10 furlongs than the Rachel Alexandra of 2009.
NYRA should embrace the Haskell — which is, after all, merely a prep race for the marquee event of the Saratoga meet, the 141st Travers Stakes on Aug. 28. Since the same all-star horses that face off at Monmouth on Sunday will renew their rivalry in the “Midsummer Derby,” NYRA should start beating the drums now. Advertise that the local fans can watch and bet on the Haskell at Saratoga on Sunday. Show the race on the infield TV screens. Turn the tables on Monmouth Park by using their signature race to promote yours.
Especially if you’re NYRA, and you’re likely to win the numbers game: The test of Monmouth’s “elite meet” handle figures was always going to be the opening of Saratoga. Friday, when the Spa kicked off its 40-day meet, the New Jersey track took in $5,515,194, a decline of 20% from $6,898,633 the previous Friday, while attendance remained roughly the same. Sunday, Monmouth was down 11% compared to the previous Sunday. Saturday was the odd day out, as Haskell day will certainly be next weekend. With the Lady’s Secret and Rachel Alexandra featured, handle was up 25% and attendance up 37%, which tracked nicely with on-track handle, up 35% over the previous Saturday.
NYRA’s video of Rachel Alexandra returning to Saratoga from Monmouth is full of mysteries. Well, two. What’s that face trainer Steve Asmussen makes at :59? And what’s the answer to the final question?
Yes! The Personal Ensign is possible, and maybe not only for Rachel Alexandra, reports Tim Wilkin in the Times-Union. “We’re trying to decide that. We have not confirmed anything yet. We’re looking at several options,” said Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, when asked if Zenyatta was being considered. Trainer Todd Pletcher has already said that Delaware Handicap winner Life At Ten is likely, an intriguing third to this much talked about match-up. (“There is no reason why this can’t happen,” Wilkin editorializes on his blog about just the big two, but no reason doesn’t mean some reason won’t be found …)
This year’s Arc winner? Breeders’ Cup Turf favorite? Harbinger demolished the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes field at Ascot on Saturday, setting a new course record of 2:26.78 with his 11-length win:
… the boffins at Timeform, regarded as the “bible” of its field, put their necks on the line with a provisional rating of 142 for the colt. To put that in perspective, that is below only Sea-Bird, Brigadier Gerard and Tudor Minstrel since the firm’s first annual volume was published in 1948, and the equal of, or above, the likes of Ribot, Mill Reef, Dancing Brave, Dubai Millennium, Shergar, Vaguely Noble and last year’s celebrity, Sea The Stars.
I’m partial to the last. She tracked an unexciting pace, responded when asked, looked comfortable, despite the heat. She won by open lengths, even if not by a great margin. (And really, what would have been gained by a blowout?)
Final time for the nine furlongs was 1:49.78 (final furlong :12.75).
With Rachel Alexandra running, Monmouth racked up phenomenal handle numbers, taking in a record $11,421,794 on its 12-race card. The WPS pool in the Lady’s Secret hit $1,593,662, the exacta pool $343,968.
At Saratoga today, first-timer Wine Police turned heads with a wire-to-wire win in the seventh, a 5 1/2 furlong maiden special, which the 2-year-old Speightstown colt took by 7 3/4 lengths in a final time of 1:03.36 (watch the replay). He’s the latest addition this summer’s buzz babies list.
7/25/10 Addendum: A Beyer speed figure of 110 for Rachel Alexandra in the Lady’s Secret, 105 for runner-up Queen Martha. That’s a big number for ‘Martha, who was making her second US start and her first on dirt. Rachel Alexandra’s BSF revised to 105, per Mike Watchmaker (DRF+).
… and the only one who could lighten such dark and heavy news would have been Ziegel himself.
Nobody had a more deft touch with written words or humor than Ziegel, The News columnist and former sports editor, who spent his life making readers smile or chuckle over the one-liners he so painstakingly crafted.
I can’t remember ever reading a bad Ziegel column. He could do humor without snark, criticism without condescension. Even covering the biggest racing days, when every little detail that could be reported seemed to have been so, his words always sounded fresh, his stories always new.
“It astounded my father — a man who rode with the Cossacks; the friendlier Cossacks — that a son of his earned a living writing 24-21, 4-3, $12.60 to win,” Ziegel once wrote of his career. “The truth? It still astounds his son.”
Directly following any decision they make having to do with the official order of finish, including inquiries and objections, the stewards … will provide an explanation of what happened and the reason for their decision. That information will then be communicated via the NYRA television feed and will be posted on the new Stewards’ Corner section on NYRA.com …
“This new policy is a big step forward in providing transparency of the stewards’ decision making,” NYRA President and CEO Charles Hayward said. “Millions of dollars are bet every day at NYRA tracks and customers should know why decisions are made in the stewards’ stand.”
The path to a conditional license in California was opened to Valenzuela, 47, under the terms of a stipulated agreement approved by board members that will require him to submit to hair follicle testing, according to the CHRB.
Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who was suspended for the month of June for failing to submit to a drug test in January, was suspended again by the Hollywood Park board of stewards on Friday for failing to comply with a term of his conditional license that requires he submit to a hair follicle test.
“They never asked me to grow hair,” said the rider. “It’s not my fault.”
I wish Valenzuela well. He’s been riding in Louisiana for two years without trouble, and maybe, as Pat Day tells Jay Hovdey, “this time it will be different.” But I also hope that the CHRB is asking him to grow hair this time around.
