Day 33: 8/29/10

Posted by Jeff T.

After the Traver's Day card, everything seems anti-climactic... even Rachel A. Why does everyone feel the need to re-visit her 2009 to get some type of consolation? The horse (Rachel) should have probably been retired after the Woodward. It is obvious Rachel doesn't want to prove anything to anyone... anymore. Borel is not the problem. Asmussen is not the problem. J. Jackson's wife is not the problem. She was ridden into the ground and owes nothing to anyone; except maybe Zenyatta... who was and still is the better athlete in 2009 or 2010.

Posted by Marc

Geez.. what is wrong with you guys?
1st- last year Rachel would have towroped this field even at 10 furlongs.. she is NOT the same horse as last year.. haven't you all noticed she does not have the turn of foot she had last year?? you know.. that burst when she seperated from the field coming into the stretch.. she is simply a slower horse.. and all the hand wringing and dissecting the particulars of this race are silly. If there has been something done wrongly by her it is from Asmussen for insisting she be on the lead whe her best races last year.. she came from behind the leader.. Listen as Steve says some get better at 4 some regress..Forego was in Secretariat's Derby.. he surely got better at 4. Affirmed could not beat Seattle Slew when Affirmed was 3.. next year he did the same to Spec Bid.. Rachel was a one of a kind 3 year old filly and she simply slowed down as a four year old.. she lost her turn of foot.. thats all

Posted by citation

For all those who think it unfair that Persistently was able to waltz in after that "sucidial pace" and nab the gallant heroine right before the wire, after she got 3/4 in the blistering time of 1:12 and change...


I give you the directions to find perhaps, the best example in the past 10 years or so of a horse picking up the pieces:

1. Go to youtube
2. Look up "Rachel Alexandra's Mother Goose"



(I suppose the biggest differences are that Rachel in her winning effort earned a stakes record, a staggering amount of superlative praise and favorable comparisons to Ruffian)

Posted by Lammtarra

Personally I think Calvin Borel rode a poor race. Bet he wished he would have saved ground going into the first turn instead of trying to be smart and push his competition out. If I were the owners I would take him off. If you have the best horse in the race ride theem that way. You don't see Mike Smith doing that sort of nonsense.

Posted by Mary in VT

Always enjoy seeing Rachel ... no matter what the outcome. She is and always be the filly that delivered the most exciting 3 YO filly season I have ever seen. Three generations of my family were there at the finish line to see Rachel, as well as family friends. Yes, of course, we would have liked to have seen her win. She did put away a gorgeous mare in the form of Life At Ten whom Rachel left for dead in the stretch. Persistently was the beneficiary of a speed duel. Ok.

My read on the race was that Rachel lost enough ground when she floated Life At Ten way wide around the first turn to put Rachel in the winner's circle, though the same ground would not have put Life At Ten in the winner's circle. If that was a deliberate maneuver by Calvin Borel to foil his main opponent, then his judgment lost the race for Rachel instead. Good of her connections not to point that out. If not a deliberate maneuver, then I wonder how the horse that has cornered so well for the master of saving ground on the rail could not be prevented from from going so wide all the way around the first turn. Again, I question his ride. Hmmm. But nor do I think they should take the King of Churchill Downs off the horse when the Breeder's Cup will be held there in a few months. Her people elected to race her this year, and they are sporting people who will see it through.

But ... there just might be a second and more important factor at play. I don't think anybody in this world loves and admires Rachel more than I, but no, it did not look like the same Rachel to me. More precisely, she did not act like the same Rachel we saw last year. I don't think it has anything to do with her being bigger and heavier, or lacking the ability she had last year because the proportion is the same. Just reading her attitude going into the Woodward last year, and in every subsequent race, my gut is that we are looking at a filly who doesn't wanna do it anymore.

Looking back, a break after the Haskell might have left her able to come back with the same desire to vanquish her foes with joy. Oh, I enjoyed her Woodward, but she didn't. Or so my heart says. Was her throwing Calvin in the Woodward post parade Rachel Alexandra trying to tell everyone as eloquently as she knows how that enough was enough already? Is the reason that no 3 YO filly had ever previously defeated males in three Gr 1 route races in any given calendar year that it really is too much to ask of them? If she thought enough was enough before her grueling Woodward Stakes win over tough older males, what did she think after she laid down all but her very life in that race? Hmmmm.

Was the 2009 Horse of the Year racing like a green 2 YO old in her first two races this year screaming as loud as she could that she didn't want to lay her life down anymore? When she looked over at the fillies that passed her near the wire in those two races was she saying "You go for it honey. Been there. Done that. And no matter what I did it was never enough for them." When Calvin called on her in the stretch in yesterday's Personal Ensign, I don't think she was spent and didn't have it to give. I think the answer was "No. This is all you get. Take it, or leave it." I even think she was well aware in yesterday's post parade that she had returned to the scene of the crime. She did not look happy or eager to run. The one thing I needed to see was a happy Rachel. She would go obediently around the track, but she was not gonna shatter her legs like matchsticks for anybody. Smart horse.

Anthropomorphism? Maybe. I dunno.

I do not fault her connections in any way. After all, they were in uncharted waters with their equine sensation that took us where no 3 YO filly has ever taken us before. Who knew what that sort of year would do to her? She seemed to be handling it physically. But what about mentally? Besides, if anybody is to blame, everybody is to blame .. or at least every one of her fans who were always screaming for more. That would be me. Front and center.

Ain't hindsight beautiful?

Posted by south florida tom

I agree with other comments that Rachel got a bad ride. Borel should have let Life At Ten go and just lay second with Rachel, then half way down the backstretch go up and challenge Life At Ten for a sprint to the wire which Rachel would have won. The other horses wouldn't have caught up. Borel and trainer Asmussen should have known this!!! We would have seen another Affirmed-Alydar matchup ala the '78 Belmont.
I also agree with another comment that Rachel should race again. She lost Sunday only because of the fast unnecessay fractions. Zenyatta should cross enter in the BC races with the hopes of meeting RA and for the good of racing.

I read and heard that Alydar ran the whole stretch run in the '78 Belmont on the wrong lead and thus couldn't get by Affrimed. Can anyone confirm this?

Posted by Ryan

Steve,

Rachel looked exhausted after the race. As she walked back in front of the grandstand she could barely lift her head up. After Zenyatta races, her ears are still pricked and its if she didn't even break a sweat. Clearly she just is not a classic distance type of horse. I hope the connections find a few shorter distance races that she can finish up a remarkable career.

Cheers.

Posted by Dan

Silly me. I don't know what the Superfecta paid in the Ensign. Help.

[No superfectas on five-horse fields. -SC]

Posted by tom mcdonough

I hear a lot of complaints about burying a race with a lot of firsters in the middle of a pick six---it is almost as bad to run five of the Pick 6 races on the turf without a turf race in the opening races to give some indication how the turf is playing.

Posted by Figless

NYCOTB feed from NYRA was not much better, they showed someone (Phipps grandson?) walking the mare back to the winners circle but then the screen froze for about five minutes with an alchohol advertisement over the window where the winners circle presentation should have been.

Not sure if it was OTB screwing up or from the NYRA feed, in either case it was really annoying to a fan of the game. Wanted to see the Phipps celebrate this historic victory.

PERSonal Ensign goes to PERSistantly.