Apple Blossom history includes the big one that got away

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Saturday’s meeting of champions Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver in the Apple Blossom has overtones of the kind of race the late Charles Cella was attempting to put on in 2010, when the Oaklawn president offered a $5 million purse if that year’s edition were to draw both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.

Rachel Alexandra was the reigning Horse of the Year following a 2009 campaign in which she won the Preakness – a race Swiss Skydiver captured in 2020. Both horses also won the Fantasy at Oaklawn. Zenyatta, meanwhile, was the reigning older female champion and was 6, as is Monomoy Girl.

The race would have been the first meeting between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.

“That was Charles Cella’s idea,” said Eric Jackson, senior vice president of Oaklawn. “It’s probably the best idea that never came to be, because it was going to excite the entire country. Just the thought of it already excited this city and this state.”

The race concept was announced Feb. 4, with conditions different from the traditional Apple Blossom. Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said the distance was changed from 1 1/16 miles to a mile and an eighth, and rather than handicap status, the race was to be run at equal weights. Both champions had to start in the race, or the total purse would revert to $500,000.

A week later, the initial day for the race was adjusted to a later date of April 9 in an agreement between all involved. Both horses were coming off layoffs.

“We were very excited about it,” said John Shirreffs, who trained Zenyatta. “We were looking forward to the race. They kept in touch every week about us coming to the proposed race. Mr. Cella just wanted to know everything was okay, so every week he would call and get an update.”

Pope said there was a lot of work behind the scenes.

“It was very exciting,” he said, “and like anything else, there was a lot of tension going on because they had to be at their best to make the race.”

The champions both started their seasons on March 13, with Zenyatta winning the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita in her first race since winning the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Rachel Alexandra finishing second by three-quarters of a length in the New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds in her first start since winning the Woodward at Saratoga. A day later, the $5 million matchup was off when Jess Jackson, owner of Rachel Alexandra, announced she would pass the race in a decision that made headlines across the country.

“Yesterday’s race, while a disappointment, helped us define Rachel Alexandra’s racing condition,” Jackson said in statement issued to the media. “While she is healthy, just as I had anticipated, she is not in top form.”

Zenyatta ended up running in the Apple Blossom, winning the Grade 1 for the second time in her career.

Brad Cox, who trains Monomoy Girl, recalled the proceedings in 2010.

“I was stabled at Oaklawn at that time,” he said. “I can remember that it was disappointing that [the matchup] didn’t happen. I was able to see Zenyatta train a day or two, and she was an amazing specimen. A monster. We’re just hoping we can be one of the great champions that was able to win an Apple Blossom in their career.”

For the connections of Zenyatta, the whole town embraced her visit in 2010.

“It was really fantastic,” Shirreffs said. “The interesting thing was when we would go to a restaurant or something like that, there were signs welcoming Zenyatta in front of different stores and offices. So it was like, ‘Wow! Look at this! They’re happy to have us.’ It was really great.

“The Apple Blossom is a very special race in America.”

Jackson said Cella was long driven to build the race in stature.

“If you go back a lot of years, there were not a lot of outstanding filly and mare races in America,” Jackson said. “There was great focus on 3-year-olds, and 4-year-olds and up, but not lot of money and focus on older fillies and mares. Charles Cella, as he did with the Fantasy, thought there should be more equity in the sexes and he put his money where his beliefs were and that’s why our filly and mare races really got traction and grew from there.”

The Oaklawn media guides lists 17 different champions as winning the Apple Blossom, which was first run in 1958.

“I honestly think that when you look back over say 20, 25 years, you can make a pretty strong case that the Apple Blossom has been our best race,” Jackson said. “And I think this year’s race, if it comes together as we all hope it will, will be a continuation of some outstanding contests that we’ve had quite often in the past. This will be the equal of any, in my opinion.”

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