Posts Tagged ‘rachel alexandra’

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Zenyatta’s Revenge

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

If only I could have gotten my own picture that day at Santa Anita. It was a beautiful November afternoon. The sky was a marvelous blue and the crowd was enormous. So big was the crowd in the grandstand that day at Santa Anita that getting a picture of Zenyatta would have been the most difficult of tasks. Certainly more difficult than predicting her victory that day. I left my camera at home. Getting her picture that day she beat all the best males the world could run her way would have been great.  I could have added it to the pictures I took of Rachel Alexandra the day she opened her 2010 campaign.

You see, after the BC Classic I wrote as if Zenyatta had already won Horse of the Year honors. Surely she was going to be the chosen one. But it wasn’t to be. No, the ‘conventional’ racing gods felt that Rachel Alexandra was the one worthy to be called 2009 Horse of the Year. Afterall, she did beat the boys herself including ’50 to 1′ Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and the eventual Belmont winner Summer Bird.


I was at the Fair Grounds the day Rachel opened her 2010 campaign.  It was the New Orleans Ladies Stakes — a race that was written for her. And in a twisted tale of fate, Zardana, a horse sent by trainer John Shireff’s as if on a ‘scouting mission for the Queen,’ wore down the reigning Horse of the Year and gave Zenyatta her victory by proxy — as if to prove a point. Surely the outcome wasn’t what Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen had in mind. But, it just may be the only satisfaction Zenyatta will ever get from the filly who might have been favored more because of where she raced then who she beat.

On Friday, Zenyatta will attempt to win her 16th straight race in the $500,000 Apple Blossom (G1). at Oaklawn on a conventional dirt surface where she had hoped to meet ‘this Horse of the Year’ in a race she’s already won.  I’m sure that the connections of Zenyatta knew that a very lucrative meeting with ‘the champ’ would be at risk when they sent Zardana down to New Orleans. It wasn’t about the money.

In my mind, I’ll always have a picture of Zenyatta. You see, it’s the one where she’s rolling home down the middle of the track wearing down Gio Ponti in the final yards of the 2009 Breeder’s Cup Classic to remain undefeated.  It’s the picture of her in the winners circle as the first filly or mare to win a race written to bring together the best horses from around the world in a test of stamina. And it’s the one I have of her being crowned Horse of the Year.  Oh, if only.

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Posted in Horse of the Year, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita | No Comments »

Congratulations to Rachel Alexandra

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Zardana wears down Rachel Alexandra to win the New Orleans Ladies Stakes at Fair Grounds

A previous post here on BugBoy.net was written as if Zenyatta had already won horse of the year honors. The headline reads “Zenyatta wins Breeder’s Cup Classic”

Emotions sometimes get the best of sports fans and  captivated by Zenyatta’s spectacular victory in the BC Classic. She beat a nice group of males to become the first female ever to win the Classic and feel she was every bit deserving in spite of Rachel’s stunning victories.

The Eclipse awards has a history of being conventional so it may be just coincidence but Rachel’s victories were unconventional over a conventional surface. Zenyatta’s victories were unconventional over an unconventional track.

They may meet sometime this year and if they do it’ll be good for racing.

However, it may never happen because after watching Rachel Alexandra race in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes, a race that was written in the racing books for her, will go down as many of the more recent previous horse of the year recipients to have gone down in defeat in their returning race after the award ceremony.

We witnessed the race live from Fair Grounds race course and have pictures of the race as Zardana wore down the defending 2009 Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, and we hate to say we told you so but Zenyatta is a MONSTER MOM who defeated a much better group of older males in the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita in ’09.

Jess Jackson will probably spend the next year avoiding Zenyatta rather than risk having her be defeated by a superior broodmare which is the way Calvin Borel explained his understanding from conversations he had with the connections of Rachel Alexandra.

Nevertheless, she is a nice young horse who will go on to win many more races in her career as she develops to earn her way into the record books. In 2009 she went undefeated by beating the once in a lifetime Mine that Bird upset of the Kentucky Derby — a race won because the jockey was better then everyone else under the conditions.

Her biggest win was at Saratoga which sealed the deal on Horse of the Year and befitting of a dramatic return in New Orleans we congratulate Jess Jackson, Steve Asmussen and most importantly Calvin Borel who may be sitting on his third winner real soon.

Somehow it all makes sense why we waited to write this post.

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Posted in 2009 Breeder's Cup, Horse of the Year | No Comments »

Mine That Bird will fly with or without Borel

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Photo AP

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Before the Preakness Mine That Bird’s Kentucky Derby win was like an albatross around the necks of handicappers. How could this virtual unknown win the Kentucky Derby at odds of 50-1?

Was it the muddy track? Was it the rail skimming ride of Calvin Borel? Was it the fact that he exited the key Sunland Derby race? Was it all of these and more? Bettors had many questions but few answers.

And then along comes the spectacular filly, Rachel Alexandra, fresh off a 20 length trouncing of the also rans in the Kentucky Oaks. On paper Rachel Alexandra looked every bit the part of the favorite. She was on a five race winning streak that stretched back to the Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs in November of last year. But she was a filly running against what was supposed to be the best of the three year old colts and geldings that weren’t injured and fillies don’t usually beat the boys. If that wasn’t enough drama the Kentucky Derby winning jockey, Calvin Borel, was taking off the Derby winner Mine That Bird to ride the filly Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness.

In 1919, Sir Barton won the first Triple Crown and since then the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes have become the ultimate goal in American thoroughbred racing. It has been 31 years since Affirmed became the last champion to wear the crown winning all three races in 1978.

Each year horse racing fans anticipate the first Saturday in May to open the series and a chance to witness the greatness of a horse who can withstand the test of distance and stamina to become the next Triple Crown winner. Over the years that has been the primary goal for America’s top 3 year old colts and the occasional gelding.

Calvin Borel calls Rachel Alexandra the best horse he’s ever ridden so when he made the decision to ride her in the Preakness it seemed easier to answer the questions about Mine That Bird’s win in the Derby and make the filly the favorite.

Now the racing world waits for Jess Jackson to decide whether he’s going to run Rachel Alexandra in the Belmont. If he does then Calvin Borel is expected to ride her. If he doesn’t then Calvin has the chance to ride Mine That Bird back in the Belmont.

Again we have more questions then answers but the

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Posted in Belmont | 2 Comments »

If the tracks off Rachel Alexandra better mind… ‘That Bird’

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Earlier this week when it was announced that Rachel Alexandra had been sold to Jess Jackson and company it set the stage for a showdown between a girl and the boys but it didn’t seem right to us. There was the possibility that she would be separated from Calvin Borel. And her new owners were sure to be pointing her to the Preakness and all but assuring another year without a Triple Crown winner.


Rachel Alexandra wasn’t in the Kentucky Derby because her connections at the time, owners Michael Lauffer and Dolphus Morrison, do not believe fillies should run against colts in the Triple Crown. After all, the series has been the measuring stick for stud fees and the success of the offspring of America’s top stallions who win any of the three classic races.

Since then, Borel has reached an agreement with Jackson and company to ride her for the rest of the year and as expected she will be in the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

Post positions were drawn yesterday and Rachel Alexandra will break from gate thirteen — the furthest from the rail — as the morning line favorite. With her speed and versatility she should have little problem stalking any of the males who decide to go but that’s an unlikely scenario.

A change of equipment for Big Drama means he won’t be so keen to go on but should be on the lead from the rail especially if the track is sloppy. And the addition of blinkers on Take the Points and the switch back to Edgar Prado puts him in contention early.

Rain is forecasted for Friday and Saturday in Baltimore and a sloppy track helped Mine That Bird close from last into fast early fractions to win the Kentucky Derby going away. The three runner-ups — Pioneer of the Nile, Musket Man, and Papa clem — finished within a quarter of a length of each other and were all leg weary in the end.

Rachel Alexandra is one of the fresh faces in Preakness 134. Calvin Borel has said he hasn’t even asked her to run yet, and that’s a scary thought.

If Mine That Bird is going to be the next Triple Crown winner he’ll have to catch Rachel Alexandra. And if the tracks off he just might do it.

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Posted in Fair Grounds | No Comments »

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