Rachel Alexandra delivers Bernardini filly at Stonestreet

Photo courtesy of Stonestreet Farm via TwitterRachel Alexandra with Bernardini foal

Rachel Alexandra, who was named Horse of the Year following a historic campaign in 2009, delivered her second foal early Tuesday morning, a filly by Darley sire Bernardini.

The 7-year-old Medaglia d'Oro mare gave birth to her filly at 2:30 a.m. at Stonestreet Farm near Lexington, Ky. Stonestreet announced the news via its Twitter page, noting that the 140-pound filly is the largest foal born on the farm this season to date.

Rachel Alexandra produced her first foal, a colt by two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, in January 2012. The yearling is named Jess's Dream for the late Stonestreet owner Jess Jackson, who campaigned both champions.

Rachel Alexandra began her career racing for breeder Dolphus Morrison, winning five consecutive stakes races from the end of her 2-year-old season into the spring of her 3-year-old year. That series of races culminated with a 20 1/4-length romp in the Kentucky Oaks.

The week following Rachel Alexandra’s Oaks victory, the filly was privately purchased by Jess Jackson, with Harold McCormick buying a minority interest. Rachel Alexandra won four consecutive Grade 1 events for her new connections. She first defeated Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the Preakness Stakes, becoming the first filly to win the second leg of the Triple Crown since 1924.

Following a 19 1/4-length romp against her divisional rivals in the Mother Goose Stakes, she defeated eventual champion 3-year-old male Summer Bird by six lengths in the Haskell Invitational. She then concluded an unbeaten campaign by defeating older males in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, becoming the first female ever to win the event. In addition to the Horse of the Year title, Rachel Alexandra earned champion 3-year-old filly honors for 2009.

A Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed as a 4-year-old, Rachel Alexandra retired in 2010 with 13 wins from 19 career starts for earnings of $3,506,730.

Rachel Alexandra is the only starter out of the stakes-winning and Grade 2-placed Roar mare Lotta Kim. It is the family of stakes winners High Blues, Lotta Rhythm, Big Blue Caboose, Early Decision, Missy's Music, and Stamp Queen.

Bernardini stands at Darley's Jonabell Farm near Lexington, Ky., where his advertised fee is $150,000 for 2013.

The 10-year-old A.P. Indy horse was named the champion 3-year-old colt of 2006, when he won five straight graded stakes events, including Grade 1 triumphs in the Preakness, Travers Stakes, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. From his first three crops of racing age, he is the sire of Grade/Group 1 winners Stay Thirsty, To Honor and Serve, Alpha, Biondetti, and A Z Warrior.

In a rarity for a stallion, Rachel Alexandra's new filly is Bernardini's second foal out of a Horse of the Year. The stallion is the sire of 2010 honoree Zenyatta's first foal, a colt born in March 2012.