Rachel Alexandra
Final Appearances
Zenyatta paraded for fans in sunny California on Sunday, in snowy Kentucky on Monday. Despite the cold, a good-sized crowd turned out at Keeneland to see the champion one last time before she retreats to stud. I wish the same could have been done for Rachel Alexandra, unceremoniously retired at the end of September. But even though honoring the filly was something Churchill Downs was interested in doing, her connections were not, explains Jennie Rees: “However, six days before the fall meet began, Stonestreet Stable quietly sent a van to pick up Rachel at Churchill to take her to the farm …”
10:50 AM Update: Many thanks to Susan for pointing out a recent post (with photo!) on the Stonestreet Farms Facebook page: “For those of you who are interested in seeing [Rachel Alexandra], we wanted you to know that after the first of the year, we will be announcing … occasional visitation days …”
“We’re Always Going to Wonder”
Take nothing away from Life At Ten’s workmanlike victory in the Beldame (gr. I), but she gets run into the ground by Rachel Alexandra in the Personal Ensign (gr. I), finishing 10 lengths behind her. The Beldame sets up perfectly for Rachel’s running style. How can you not wonder what Rachel would have done had she not been retired, coming off three bullet works. Was she injured? Did she bleed? Were her feet acting up? Or did Jess Jackson simply wake up one morning and decide to retire her? As long as Jackson keeps the reason for her retirement to himself and keeps Steve Asmussen and Scott Blasi under a gag order, we’re always going to wonder. Her devoted fans deserved more.
He’s right.
In this whole drama (or non-drama, if that’s your perspective), assistant trainer Scott Blasi has been the one person involved who’s said anything remotely revealing about Rachel Alexandra’s retirement. And while it’s not much, it confirms Jackson’s statement. “We had her prepared for the Beldame,” Blasi told Tim Wilkin last week, “it was just a matter of what Mr. Jackson felt was right for her.” To Marcus Hersh, Blasi said the matter of retiring the filly had come up before last Tuesday, and that, “At the end of the day she’s retiring healthy and sound, and that’s all I could ever want for her.” What’s the difference? What makes Blasi’s words at least somewhat soothing? Robin Howlett, in a comment on an earlier post, explained it best:
There so much of this Rachel story that leaves a bad taste in the mouth; her never meeting Zenyatta, retiring out of the blue, the lack of at least some kind of interview with connections on their feelings behind making the decision. That’s what’s most frustrating. You just feel left out of the loop, like, as a fan, you never really mattered at all.
Some of these connections, don’t seem to understand how we racing fans feel. That they are not their horses, they’re OUR horses. They’re just a little more involved.
It’s not so much what (little) Blasi says, as it is how he says it. What leaves a bad taste and questions, even days later, is that Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen created a situation that left — rightly or wrongly — perceptions of an issue, physical or otherwise — and then refused to address it. They didn’t understand that a press release wouldn’t be enough.
No Comment
Times-Union turf writer Tim Wilkin tries to get trainer Steve Asmussen to comment on Rachel Alexandra’s retirement, without results:
Well, when we got Asmussen on the phone, it was the pefect time to ask what he really felt.
Here is what he said the first time I asked him to comment on Rachel’s retirement:
“At the half-mile pole, I thought Haynesfield had a real good chance to win,” Asmussen said.
I asked him a second time.
Read his entire post for the complete conversation, and the questions it raises.
Questions, Questions
Steve Haskin keeps up the quest for answers:
Speaking of Rachel’s retirement, some fairly reliable tidbits heard through the grapevine include Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen knowing she would not race again as of a week or two ago, and that it was nagging foot problems that prompted her retirement. Another cited suspensory issues. See what happens when you are not forthright in announcing the retirement of a horse such as this.
It is hoped one of these, if true, will be made public in the next day or two to give closure to Rachel’s retirement.
Would it make a difference now to learn there was an injury?
Here’s one question answered: Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who has the mount on juvenile graded stakes winner JP’s Gusto, will be able to ride at Keeneland and Churchill (and in the Breeders’ Cup) this fall. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission unanimously granted Valenzuela a license on Thursday.
Gary West asks: Can Switch beat Zenyatta? I think not, but if she were to do so in the Lady’s Secret on Saturday, it would highlight a downside to the big mare’s careful California campaign. Zenyatta has more to lose by losing to weak competition than she would in a race such as the Beldame Stakes.
Storytelling
Storytelling is a wonderful human quality. We find patterns, we create narratives, we tell each other stories about our lives, our fears, our dreams. But sometimes we get caught up in the stories we tell, we believe that the narratives we made up are truths. And so it is with Rachel Alexandra and the story of her 4-year-old campaign. From the moment that she finished second to Zardana in the New Orleans Ladies’ Stakes in March, the narrative has been one of a filly vainly trying to recapture her glory, of a filly tarnishing her reputation with every loss. That’s the story that was told, because it confirmed worries that she wouldn’t come back as brilliant as she had been, because we fear disappointment and loss and we long for redemption and happy endings.
But that doesn’t make it true.
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Jessica Chapel is an editor and web producer living in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published since June 2004. More / Contact
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