Needs Supervision enjoying snowbird's life ahead of Rachel Alexandra

NEW ORLEANS – Were she, say, 10 percent less talented, the filly Needs Supervision, along with her trainer, Jerry O’Dwyer, would be shivering against the cold up in Maryland right now. Instead, horse and trainer have been in New Orleans for more than four weeks, cutting a trail toward what O’Dwyer hopes will be a start in the Kentucky Oaks.

Next stop is Saturday, when Needs Supervision starts in the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes.

Needs Supervision had been here less than a week when she won the Jan. 19 Silverbulletday, horse and human’s first stakes win, and, so far, the plan O’Dwyer hatched for the filly early last November has stayed on script. A trip to Kentucky for a Nov. 24 allowance race produced a win impressive enough that heavy hitters Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, and Madaket Stables purchased a majority share of the filly from Mike Karty’s Howling Pigeon Farm.

And when O’Dwyer shipped Needs Supervision to New Orleans, it was always with the intention of sticking around as long as his horse merited it.

“It was the obvious thing to do, for me,” he said. “I really don’t like having them up in the cold. When they’re going about for 30 minutes without a blanket and it’s 14 degrees, that’s not good.”

Of course, New Orleans has its hazards, and as O’Dwyer spoke Tuesday morning from Fair Grounds Barn 3, where he moved Needs Supervision to be stabled with a few turf horses he also shipped to run here, Fair Grounds had just gotten pasted with torrential rain. But by then, Needs Supervision had completed her morning gallop and was tucked cozily into her stall, showing off a healthy coat and several more pounds of weight than what she’d arrived with after shipping here last month.

“She’s definitely gained some weight since then,” said O’Dwyer. “She had a good work, and everything has gone well for her since we arrived.”

Needs Supervision, by Paynter and out of Moroccan Rose, by Carson City, stumbled at the start of the Silverbulletday, recovered, and had to work to hold off the unheralded Eres Tu in the final 100 yards. She’ll have to run better to win the Rachel Alexandra – and can, her trainer believes. In addition to the weight gain, Needs Supervision, O’Dwyer hinted, probably wasn’t at her physical peak when she arrived here last month. Now, she’s had a race and many days’ training over a dirt surface that’s generally required some getting used to during this meet.

And she’s staying warm.