The most disappointed person on the planet when Rachel Alexandra was beaten at the Fair Grounds Saturday had to be Oaklawn Park General Manager Eric Jackson. After the race, Rachel’s owner, Jess Jackson announced that the 2009 Horse of the Year is not in top shape and won’t be taking on Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Stakes at Oaklawn on April 9. Oaklawn had jacked the purse up from $500,000 to $5 million if the two sensational lady horses were to meet, but now the best scenario is that unbeaten Zenyatta will show up.
Rachel Alexandra seemed to have the easiest of assignments in Saturday’s New Orleans Ladies Stakes. She faced only four opponents and as far as the Daily Racing Form past performances are concerned, none of those four were even qualified to carry Rachel’s purse, or whatever female horses keep their accoutrements in. Trainer Steve Asmussen blames himself for not having the horse in shape, but jockey Calvin Borel gets few points for style in this race. He swung Rachel way too wide on the first turn (how do you run in the four path in a five horse race?) and admitted after the race that he was under orders not to set the pace. Again, what was everyone thinking. Running relentlessly on the front end is Rachel Alexandra’s game. Strangling her down the backstretch while a glorified claimer cut out easy splits probably discouraged her. Halfway down the backside, Borel took an overly animated look behind him that appeared to pull somewhat on Rachel’s head. Around the far turn, RA did make an impressive move to get the lead, but Zardana, coincidentally an unheralded stablemate of Zenyatta, had a full head of steam and in mid-stretch got past Rachel. The winner of the 2009 Preakness and Woodward Stakes did dig in nicely through the stretch, but Zardana had the momentum and won by less than a length. Zardana is trained by John Sherriffs, who just 24 minutes after Rachel’s defeat, send out Zenyatta in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Stakes at Santa Anita. And if Rachel Alexandra was not race-ready, Zenyatta sure was. The six year-old mare did what she had done in all of her previous 14 wins – she started slowly, loitered in last place for almost a mile and then made an exhilarating move from 8th, swallowing up her opponents with disdain and winning by a widening length and a quarter. At the top of the lane, jockey Mike Smith had tons of momentum and a wall of horses in front of him. He yanked Zenyatta – almost violently – to the inside and she found the smallest of openings and for the final 16th, racing fans saw the definition of greatness as Zenyatta didn’t so much overhaul the front runner Dance to My Tune, she inhaled her.
Rachel Alexandra certainly deserved the Horse of the Year honors she won for 2009, but right now, who would deny that Zenyatta is the greatest horse on the planet. Her race was faster and she ran with a much greater handicap – carrying 127 pounds, at least 11 more than any other horse in her race, while Rachel was beaten by a horse toting just two pounds less.
Zenyatta’s owners Jerry and Ann Moss have assured Oaklawn that she will run on April 9. Although racing fans…and Oaklawn executives are surely unhappy that the two super ladies won’t meet in the near future, Asmussen and Jackson deserve credit – in the case of Rachel Alexandra, they have always acted in the horse’s best interest, never giving in to any personal ego.
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