Tempers Rising has better chance in Rachel Alexandra than her record indicates

NEW ORLEANS – A filly who required five tries to clear the maiden ranks and has one win from six races coming into the second start of her 3-year-old season isn’t really supposed to be a serious threat in a spot like Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes. Yet Tempers Rising almost certainly is more qualified to contend here Saturday than her record might suggest.

Sometimes of her own making, sometimes through circumstance, Tempers Rising has been light on luck, both throughout her string of maiden races and even in her most recent start, the Silverbulletday Stakes here Jan. 18. There, Tempers Rising raced last of seven as Ursula, tracked by Finite, dawdled along on a slow pace over a fast-playing racing surface. Tempers Rising dipped outside at the three-sixteenths pole, came with a good closing run while finishing fastest, and wound up third, a head behind Ursula and a neck back of Finite.

“That’s who she is – she’s always coming, even if she doesn’t get there,” said Dallas Stewart, who trains Tempers Rising for owners Mark and Nancy Stanley. “That’s what you need in races like this.”

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Tempers Rising could be in the 6-1 to 8-1 range when running back against the two fillies who beat her last time as well as the Rachel Alexandra favorite, 2-year-old filly champion British Idiom, who’s set to make her seasonal bow. But where Ursula made an easy lead in the Silverbulletday, the presence of stretch-out sprinter Impeccable Style – in addition to an extra 40 yards of ground in the 1 1/16-mile Rachel Alexandra – could help Tempers Rising get up this time.

Tempers Rising, by Bayern out of Marchmont, by Mountain Cat, was wide in her sprint debut at Ellis Park. She raced erratically while in traffic early before coming with a solid bid second time out at Churchill after being bumped at the start and caught wide with no cover around the first turn.

She next finished second to a front-running winner at Keeneland, then had a truly terrible trip Oct. 27 at Churchill, where she was stopped cold before the quarter pole. She finally won a maiden race Nov. 22 at Churchill – despite having to rally into a slow pace from 10th position – before moving on to the Silverbulletday.

“She’s really training better than ever,” said Stewart, who always works Tempers Rising in company and teamed her with the 3-year-old colt Unthrottled in a snappy half-mile drill Feb. 9. Stewart won the 2006 Kentucky Oaks with 47-1 shot Lemons Forever. “Julien Leparoux fits her really nice. Let’s see what she can do.”