Rachel Alexandra
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| Rachel Alexandra |
Rachel Alexandra is quite simply the best female horse to come around in at least a decade, and perhaps the better than any male horse of the last few years. The exciting thing is that she is still only a 3-year-old and is still developing.
She lost her first race on May 22, 2008 but that was very early on as a two-year-old, but came back and broke her maiden at Churchill Downs in June of 2008. She would finish a good second in her next two attempts in stakes company, but in November, she would break through with a big performance in the Golden Rod Stakes (Grade 2) at Churchill Downs, winning by 4 ½ lengths.
This would mark the beginning of an unbroken nine race winning streak, all in stakes races, which is still intact as of September 2009, her latest win being a big win in the Woodward over the older male handicap horses.
After winning the Fantasy Stakes (Grade 2) by 8 ¾ lengths in an effort the Daily Racing Form would comment on as “Took command, easily”, at Oaklawn Park, she was made the .30-1 betting favorite in the Kentucky Oaks on May 1, 2009.
She proceeded to run away from 6 rivals, with the margin increasing with each stride as she turned into the stretch, eventually crossing the wire 20 ¼ lengths in front. Sometimes when a race is an easy front running victory, it has a tendency to bore, but when the winner keeps opening up and defying expectation, the excitement builds, much as Secretariat did in winning the Belmont Stakes back in 1973.
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| Rachel Alexandra at the Wire |
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| Rachel Alexandra After Winning the Oaks |
In the Preakness, she faced the boys, something that is very hard for a filly to do and come away successful, and yet she did. She was pressed through a very solid pace, and held on nicely to beat the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.
Next up was literally a walk in the park, Belmont Park to be exact, in the Grade 1 Mother Goose against her own gender. She faced only 2 other rivals, and made quick work of them, stalking the pace, and pouncing coming off the turn. She opened up by 19 ¼ lengths and earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
In early August, it was time to put on another display of girl power in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. The racetrack conditions were boggy, but she showed no aversion to a sloppy track as she beat the Belmont winner Summer Bird, prevailing by 6 lengths at the wire and registering a 116 Beyer Speed Figure.
Rachel Alexandra defeated older males in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, a feat which had never yet been accomplished by female horse, holding off two Grade 1 winners, the late charging Macho Again who won the Stephen Foster and Bullsbay who was coming off a win in the Whitney Handicap.
Rachel Alexandra's connections have said that they will not be running in the Breeders' Cup, much to the disappointment of the racing world, and it appears she will be given a rest for the remainder of this year.
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