JC / Railbird

Rachel Alexandra

A Well-Deserved Rest

Owner Jess Jackson said on Sunday that it is unlikely Rachel Alexandra will race again this year following her Woodward Stakes win:

“She had a campaign since winter, this is the fall. She’s raced more races in two years than most fillies ever run. She’s done things that no fillies have ever done. She deserves a rest.”

After Saturday, who could argue? This campaign needs no embellishing:

I haven’t watched the Woodward replay yet. Like Maryjean Wall, I’m still in “a dreamy state” brought on by being at Saratoga to witness such an amazing display of heart, talent, and speed. I’ll surely watch the replay soon (the better to comment on the race and what it means), but for now, I want my memories of Saturday only to be of her in the lead and the crowd rising and roaring as the field streaked down the stretch, as I saw and felt those intense seconds.

9/7/09 Addendum: More from Jackson on the likelihood that Rachel Alexandra will not race again this year: “She needs, I think four or five months off.”

Posted in Racing on September 6, 2009 / Tagged Distaffers, Great Horses, Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, Saratoga, Woodward Stakes

The Fun Is Over

Claire Novak is fed up with Jess Jackson’s coy refusals to announce yet where Rachel Alexandra is starting next. Enough, she writes:

Set a date for a press conference, make up your mind, and make the announcement. That’s what a true sportsman would do.

And that’s hardly the best part of the column.

Posted in Racing on August 20, 2009 / Tagged Aggravations, Claire Novak, Jess Jackson, Machinations, Rachel Alexandra, Saratoga

Peerless

Rachel Alexandra and Calvin Borel win the Haskell. (Uploaded by Rock and Racehorses to Flickr.)

She’s beaten the winners of the Illinois Derby, Arkansas Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Tom Fool Handicap. She’s won eight consecutive races, four of those Grade 1s, one a Classic, at six different tracks, and she’s done so by a combined 69 3/4 lengths. Her winning time of 1:47.21 for nine furlongs in the Haskell Invitational came within one-fifth of a second of the Monmouth stakes record; her preliminary Beyer speed figure for the race is 116, which is the highest yet given this year to any horse of any age at any distance over any surface in North America. The leading contender for Horse of the Year, she’s the best of her generation, male or female, and quite possibly, the best American thoroughbred in training.

She’s Rachel Alexandra, and she’s great.

Superlatively speaking: Her Haskell win was preternatural … awesome … surreal … easily the most scintillating seen this year … spine-tingling. (For more, including photos and the race replay, visit R360.)

Meanwhile: Earlier in the day and across the ocean, Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova turned in a flawless front-running performance to win the Fr-1 Prix de Rothschild. Writes Sue Montgomery in the Independent,

Unlike those commercially driven, demeaning occasions now prevalent at feature race meetings, yesterday was a ladies’ day with a degree of dignity attached. At Deauville, the four-year-old filly Goldikova won the European weekend’s most valuable prize because of her deeds, not her looks. Her class as an athlete was being judged, not the style of her plaits or the colour of her saddlecloth.

Sing it, sister.

The brilliant Goldikova is expected to return to Santa Anita this fall to defend her title. “We’ll follow the same plan as last year,” said trainer Freddie Head.

And at Del Mar: Perfect Zenyatta breezed five furlongs in 1:00 in prep for the Clement Hirsch (video). Could the champion beat Rachel Alexandra, if the two meet? That’ll be the question for the rest of the racing year.

Posted in Racing on August 2, 2009 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Del Mar, Distaffers, Favorites, France, Goldikova, Great Horses, Haskell Stakes, International, Monmouth Park, Rachel Alexandra, Workouts, Zenyatta