Okay, so after the late scratches of Don’t Forget Gil and Hopeful Image, it left a field of three for the $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes, but Rachel Alexandra’s 19 1/4 length win today was still impressive. She blew past Malibu Prayer (second) and Flashing (third) on a hand ride from Calvin Borel and still broke the track record (set in 1994). In addition Rachel Alexandra set a new record with her margin of victory. The previous record, for a 13 1/2 length lead was set by Ruffian in 1975).
In honor of the great filly Belmont Park had free admission for women and gave away free “Rachel Alexandra” pink bracelets to the first 10,000 people through the turnstiles.
Rachel Alexandra’s record now stands at 9-2-0 in 12 career starts and has rattled off seven straight victories, all stakes races. Her career earnings now stand at $1,798,354.
Zenyatta also won yesterday in the Vanity Handicap. If you watch the video you see a small filly, number six horse Briecat, really looks impressive. You can view the race at http://www.greenbutgame.org/.
Much buzz abounds about a possible Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta match-up, but one big factor stands in the way: polytrack. Jess Jackson is on the record that he will not run his horse on “plastic.” A good compromise would be a turf race between the two mighty mares. Jackson tried Curlin on turf and horses that run on “plastic” tend to do well on turf also.
Have you seen Rachel Alexandra’s bloodlines? She’s about as classy as they come.
Thanks for the link to Zenyatta’s race. She’s also very impressive. I would love to see the two go head to head.
The polytrack issue is a very interesting one because it seems like horses the run well on dirt don’t necessarily find the polytrack to their liking whereas the opposite doesn’t always hold true.