JC / Railbird

A Matter of Perspective

Which recap best captures Rachel Alexandra’s three-length win as the 1-10 favorite in the ungraded Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth this afternoon?

Rachel Alexandra has to work in Lady’s Secret victory (Blood-Horse)
… it was not a walkover for the reigning Horse of the Year …

Rachel Alexandra cruises in the Lady’s Secret (Thoroughbred Times)
Rachel Alexandra turned in a performance befitting a Horse of the Year …

Rachel Alexandra takes care of business (Daily Racing Form)
… a solid win, considering the conditions.

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+).


3 Comments

Those are very solid Beyers for both Rachel Alexandra and Martha in the Lady’s Secret. I’m not surprised she didn’t win by a huge margin considering how hot it was out, but three lengths in a hand ride is still impressive.

Posted by Brian Appleton on July 25, 2010 @ 9:47 am

Jessica,

Read also The Knight Sky blog (http://theknightskyracing.blogspot.com/) for his first hand account of the day … the heat was apparently oppressive.

At first view, she was unimpressive. Having lived back east for a very short time, but all summer long, I know that she was justified to feel the effects.

Posted by Amateurcapper on July 25, 2010 @ 12:25 pm

Thanks for the plug Amateurcapper.

Nice to know there are some people paying attention. ;-)

Posted by The_Knight_Sky on July 26, 2010 @ 9:07 am