JC / Railbird

Rachel Alexandra

Weekend Notes

– Racing has a new Omnisurface Star: Colonel John, winner of the 2008 Santa Anita Derby (Pro-Ride) and Travers Stakes (dirt), made his 2009 debut a winning one, taking the ungraded Wickerr Stakes (turf) at Del Mar by two lengths in a fast 1:32.77 (just missing the track record). Trainer Eoin Harty now has some options for the 4-year-old Tiznow colt: “He can do anything.”

– The lack of TV coverage for this weekend’s fantastic racing “amounts to a blackout,” says Steve Crist. Count it also as a lost opportunity.

– Maybe part of the problem with getting coverage is that apparently even the NTRA doesn’t follow the sport that closely. “The Haskell Invitation is today at 6:15PM … http://bit.ly/grQoo,” reads an official tweet. Dear NTRA tweeter, note: The Haskell Invitational is scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, August 2.

– Bill Finley sees into the future: “Munnings is going to beat her.” [Oops!]

– Monmouth photos: There’s something in the air, and check out that filly.

– Jess Jackson may have the best 3-year-old running, and his wife, Barbara Banke, the best 2-year-old: Hot Dixie Chick was given a Beyer speed figure of 103 for her visually impressive Schuylerville Stakes win on Wednesday. Backtalk, an undefeated son of Smarty Jones attracting some attention, received a BSF of 82 for his hard-fought Sanford win on Thursday.

– Discreetly Mine, a half-brother to Discreet Cat who made an impression on me in his debut, returns in the sixth at Saratoga this afternoon. The 3-1 morning line favorite in a field of 13, he gets blinkers on and boasts a bullet work for trainer Stanley Hough. Also entered is Krypton, a first-time starter by freshman sire Rock Hard Ten (one of my old favorites) out of Kiaran McLaughlin’s barn. Rock Hard Ten is off to a decent start with his offspring: Of the seven that have run so far, two have won, both in their debuts.

Posted in Racing on August 1, 2009 / Tagged Colonel John, Del Mar, Favorites, Monmouth Park, NTRA, Rachel Alexandra, Saratoga

Clarifying

Take care, race promoters, Steve Crist has a peeve:

The word “champion” has a very specific meaning in Thoroughbred racing: The winner of a year-end divisional championship. The Breeders’ Cup has done its best to devalue the word by referring to any winner of a Breeders’ Cup race as a “Breeders’ Cup champion” whether or not that horse also wins a championship. Now Monmouth Park is also misusing the word in promoting the principals in the Aug. 2 Haskell as “Preakness Champion Rachel Alexandra” and “Belmont Stakes Champion Summer Bird.”

Rachel Alexandra is 1-to-100 to be the champion 3-year-old filly of 2009, and Summer Bird is a possible contender for the male version of that award, but until the Eclipse Awards are announced next January, neither should be called a champion.

While on the topic of language usage, how about banishing the phrase “taking on the boys” (and its variations, “running against the boys,” “battling the boys,” “facing the boys,” etc.) from turf writing? It was a hoary phrase before the “Year Era of the Chick” began, but with Rachel Alexandra making a habit of stepping outside her division, and a number of other distaffers doing the same recently, its use has tipped from colloquial cutesiness into egregious abuse. I know it can be tough to write about a subject repeatedly without resorting to cliché — how many ways are there, really, to talk about a female horse racing in open company? — but this is one that needs a rest.

Related (if you’re into such things): A bracing excerpt from Kingsley Amis’ “The King’s English.”

Posted in Racing on July 26, 2009 / Tagged Champions, Language, Monmouth Park, Rachel Alexandra, Summer Bird

Summer Beauty

The August issue of Vogue is now on newsstands and the magazine includes, as expected, a breezy feature on super filly Rachel Alexandra. The article offers little new information to racing fans (although I did enjoy reading this tidbit about the Preakness: “When Mike Smith, the jockey on Mine That Bird, rode up after the race to congratulate Borel, the highly competitive filly instinctively took off again”), but the accompanying photo is absolutely stunning. And possibly digitally altered? There’s no halter on her fine head:

Posted in Media on July 23, 2009 / Tagged Distaffers, Great Horses, Photography, Portraits, Posing, Profiles, Rachel Alexandra, Vogue

Not Like the Other

One last post about Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra (for a couple days, at least), as I can’t help noting that the reasons both trainer John Shirreffs and owner Jerry Moss are giving for ruling out shipping the mighty mare to New York for a race at Saratoga or Belmont is the detention barn and Giacomo’s meltdown before the 2005 Belmont Stakes. Interesting how they’re citing the one thing that makes NYRA tracks different, just as Jess Jackson did with his mentions of Curlin’s Breeders’ Cup Classic loss and the Santa Anita Pro-Ride when he said Rachel Alexandra was unlikely for the Breeders’ Cup. Excuses to duck? Or legitimate concerns for both camps?

Posted in Racing on June 30, 2009 / Tagged Detention Barn, NYRA, Pro-Ride, Rachel Alexandra, Santa Anita, Zenyatta