Wow, Calvin’s dance card…:eek:
I would seriously consider checking with my friend who’s doing a fellowship in Houston whether I could crash on her couch if they decided to hold a match race between RA and Zenyatta. That I’d like to see in person.
Though…really, wouldn’t RA be the overwhelming favorite at this point?
Nixed - John Shirreffs says no to the “Mattress Mac” $2M match-race offer cited above.
“No,” Shirreffs told the Daily News when asked about the $2 million match race suggested by Houston furniture mogul and horse owner James McIngvale. “I believe in taking the more traditional approach.”
There had been no comment (nor any expected) on the proposal from the Rachel Alexandra camp 
No word if Sheikh Mo was offered the chance to visit Rachel Alexandra - his Greentree Stables is less then 1/2 mi away.
The Times Union has a story on Dominic Terry, Rachel Alexandra’s exercise rider
Credit for that goes to exercise rider Dominic Terry. Formerly hard to handle, Rachel Alexandra now is the picture of deportment.
Terry, the only person besides jockey Calvin Borel to sit on her back since her May 8 move to Steve Asmussen’s barn, has taught the super filly to channel her talent into purposeful morning gallops and breezes. In exchange, she’s given him something to live for.
“I’ve just been thrilled,” said Terry, a 24-year-old who formerly rode races but is taking a hiatus to gallop the filly. “Every morning I wake up and think ''Oh, boy – I get to get on Rachel Alexandra.”
He grew up near Belmont Park, where his mother, former jockey Elizabeth Kirkland, taught him to gallop thoroughbreds. His father, James Terry, also had ridden races, so it was a natural progression when, in 2001 at the age of 16, he booted his first winner under the wire. For the next few years he worked as a jockey at tracks across the country. He connected with Asmussen at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans in 2004.
“The first horse I rode for Steve was a winner,” Terry said. “Whenever I had trouble making weight I’d just go work for him in the mornings. Now I’ve given up the racing for a little bit and Rachel’s helped me get through that. I usually get depressed about not riding races and I haven’t since she’s been in our barn.”
It took the rider about one week to figure out the filly. He watched videos of her training and called on the advice of an expert – his mother.
Terry’s comment on RA: “She’s aggressive in her gallop”
Very cool.
I generally respect the opinion of HRTV’s Jon White (who was just appointed the official odds maker for Santa Anita) but his column today is just one of those odd ones: Jon White 8-13-09 “A Plausable Scenario”
As anyone can tell I’m a big fan of Rachel and noticed her well before the legions climbed aboard the bandwagon (which is fine, the more the merrier) but I rarely play the “what if only” game. Jon extends what he’s seen and like a kid with scissors becomes reckless in his dashing around holding this theory …
Rachel Alexandra won the Kentucky Oaks by 20 1/4 lengths. But I believe that if Jackson had owned Rachel Alexandra at the time, the filly would have started in-- and won – the Kentucky Derby instead of the Oaks. When Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness, she defeated Derby winner Mine That Bird.
Victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness would made Rachel Alexandra the first filly in history to head to the Belmont with a chance to sweep the Triple Crown.
Perhaps Rachel Alexandra would have joined the list of Derby/Preakness winners who lost the Belmont. But, based on what I have seen, I believe Rachel Alexandra would have won the Belmont, a supposition supported by her Haskell triumph in which she defeated Belmont winner Summer Bird by six widening lengths.
The scenario is so plausible it makes me want to cry. Can you imagine the tremendous excitement generated if Rachel Alexandra, a filly, had swept the Triple Crown?
Sure she beat Summer Bird in the Haskell confidently at a shorter distance but how does anyone make the assumption that a horse who hasn’t even attempted 1 1/4 mi suddenly has the stamina to pull off 1 1/2 mi in the Belmont?
I’m not saying she couldn’t go the distance and I think victory at 1 1/4 mi will be possible but she’ll be relying more on heart / desire than natural distance talent to score the victory. I haven’t seen a potent 2nd kick (nor has there been one really required) late in the stretch when we’re under 1 1/4 mi and Calvin hasn’t been told to ride her out past the wire to test a longer distance in a race. Rather she keeps getting geared down in races which frankly is a conditioning mistake IMHO.
I completely agree with the being geared down toward the wire. Of course she could go 1 1/2, with the proper conditioning. She isn’t exactly a sprinter, she has the right way of going.
I agree that she would have won the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby.
Or she could have woken up on the wrong side of the stall,
But it’s moot!!
A faux conversation with RA - who works out Monday Aug 17th and decisions will be made on her next race:
TImes Union 8-16-09 “A conversation with Rachel Alexandra”
Q: Well, I’m glad you’re talking to me.
A: If you don’t pull out some mints pretty soon, we won’t be talking much longer.
Q: Do you and Jess Jackson, your owner, talk much?
A: I talk to him more than you press guys do. He is trying to turn me on to his wine. I keep telling him I’m in training. He’s OK, though. I’ll tell him when I’m ready to run and then he’ll tell you. When I win the Travers, I might take a sip.
Q: When you are walking around the barn area, your tongue usually hangs out of the side of your mouth. What’s that all about?
A: If it was good enough for [Michael] Jordan, it’s good enough for me.
No news until late Tue (8-17) or Wed (18th) on where she is headed to next. As for this morning’s work just before 6am …
Rachel Alexandra was clocked for 5-furlongs in 1:00.37 putting her the fastest of 18 at the distance on the Oklahoma training dirt track.
Stablemat Kensei was clocked in 1:01.85 also for 5-furlongs
Stonestreet Stables and Gulf Coast Farms’ Kensei sent out to the Oklahoma training track at 5:30 a.m., while Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick’s Rachel Alexandra will follow her stablemate at 5:50 a.m.
“We definitely won’t make a decision until we see how they’re doing on Tuesday,” Asmussen said. “It will be at least until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday.”
A bit more on her work from this morning on the Oklahoma training track:
Just before 6 a.m. with a thick fog enveloping the Oklahoma training track, Rachel Alexandra worked five furlongs in 1:00.37 seconds under exercise rider Dominic Terry. The thick fog made it impossible to see the poles, so clocker Bryan Walls, left the clocker’s stand with a walkie-talkie which he used to notify the other clockers when she broke off.
Rachel Alexandra emerged from the fog at the sixteenth pole in a powerful cruising mode as she blitzed past a waiting gathering of media and fans.
“This fog gives it a little Seabiscuit action doesn’t it?” Asmussen said. “She’s just been fast. We got a little rain overnight and it tightened the track up. Dominic, off the first set, said the racetrack’s a lot quicker this morning than it was yesterday.”
A bit of sadness with this one as Hal guided Rachel’s career perfectly under his control.
DRF 8-17-09: “Wiggins makes plans to retire from training” - effective with the end of the Churchill Downs fall meet in November.
Wiggins, 66, said he and his wife, Renee, “had been beating around the idea of retirement for the last year or so” and the financial windfall they received with the sale of Rachel Alexandra in May had provided the wherewithal for him to retire.
The sale amount was never publicly disclosed but has been reported to be in the $10 million range. Trainers typically receive about 5 percent of sale proceeds in such cases.
“Mike and Mr. Morrison were very generous to us,” Wiggins said.
The sale of Rachel Alexandra on May 7 “affected me even more than I thought it would,” Wiggins said. “I just hated for her to walk out of our barn that morning, but you get up the next day and go on with your life. Renee and I are still her biggest supporters. We watched her win the [Aug. 2] Haskell together, and Renee had these big tears in her eyes. The filly was just great to us.”
Video of (part of) the work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBS0ccCYoWQ
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4311744]
No news until late Tue (8-17) or Wed (18th) on where she is headed to next. As for this morning’s work just before 6am …
Rachel Alexandra was clocked for 5-furlongs in 1:00.37 putting her the fastest of 18 at the distance on the Oklahoma training dirt track.
Stablemat Kensei was clocked in 1:01.85 also for 5-furlongs[/QUOTE]
Alibhai’s Alibar thanks for posting that! I was going to note that NYRA has been dropping the ball with providing promised content on Rachel’s summer at Saratoga. It’s nice they finally got a crew to the track to record some of her workout in the fog. It would’ve been nicer if they capture a bit more of her work vs. seeing the media trudge along like some sort of walking wounded along Horse Haven
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4314365]
It would’ve been nicer if they capture a bit more of her work vs. seeing the media trudge along like some sort of walking wounded along Horse Haven ;)[/QUOTE]
They did look awfully mopey, didn’t they? :lol::lol::lol:
She’s not going to race in the Alabama “we think” …
Rachel Alexandra Alabama bound? No one seems to know
The only person who does [know RA’s next start] is Jess Jackson, and he isn’t talking. Asmussen said he hasn’t seen the wine king since he got into Saratoga, supposedly late Tuesday night. One would think the Alabama will be eliminated as a possibility for Rachel’s next start as the entries will be drawn later today.
“As of 10:30 this morning, she is not in the Alabama,” Asmussen said outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. “I have talked to him (Jackson) but I have not met with him. He doesn’t have to answer to me.”
Jackson/Asmussen have said now that no decision will be provided until Monday’s (Aug 24th) workout … Per the DRF both RA and stablemate Kensei could enter the Travers - but never race together. So one or the other would actually make it to the post.
“It depends on the health of the horses, which one’s doing really well,” Jackson said in the paddock prior to Wednesday’s Adirondack Stakes in which he ran Dashing Debby, who finished fifth. “If they’re both doing really well, then we got a decision to make. I know delaying the decision makes it harder for the press to follow, but it’s all about the horse.”
Rachel Alexandra has already beaten 3-year-old males twice - in the Preakness and Haskell Invitational - but could become the first female to win the Woodward should she face older males in that spot.
“I’m up to a challenge, you know that,” Jackson said. “We’d love to race her here, but there a few other races being formulated for her. I’m a Saratoga guy.”
“I’m a Saratoga guy”? I think Al Capone thought he was one too back in the day
You owe me a keyboard!!! :lol:
A bit of a whine by freelance writer Claire Novak on Jess Jackson’s less then forthcoming comments of next steps. However isn’t that just part of the game?
Reporters seeking an answer on Rachel’s next start yesterday were informed that it was the day off for the owner’s PR director, that Asmussen didn’t know, and that Jackson still hadn’t made up his mind.
And that’s why I say sportsman shmortsman, Mister Jackson. Enough cat-and-mouse. Set a date for a press conference, make up your mind, and make the announcement. That’s what a true sportsman would do.
This way, racetracks barely have a chance to promote the appearance of the filly who at the moment is the only Thoroughbred with enough charisma to draw the public in. And if Rachel Alexandra takes home much-deserved Horse of the Year honors by the end of the season, it will be all because of her phenomenal performances on the track, not because of her owner’s approach to her second half of the season.
I’m no JJ loyalist whatsoever but he’s made it fairly clear it will be either the Travers or Woodward. The PA Derby is strictly a worse case backup and even yesterday JJ dropped off even mentioning the Personal Ensign on Aug. 30th.
Even someone who follows this sport marginally can read enough of the commentary to know that all signs are pointing that Jess will aim Kensei to the Travers (he’d be over his head in the Woodward) and Rachel will take on the older males in the Woodward. I’m sure he’s cautious in so far as to Kensei is prgressing and if he’s up to snuff for the Travers.
What is so neat about this thread is not only does Glimmerglass go out and get all the articles for us to read, he also gives great commentary on all the players. 
Thank you Glimmerglass.
Cloudy received his “autographed” picture of RA this week. Well, we think at least Calvin Borel’s sig is real. RA’s sig doesn’t look like she penned it herself, perhaps she dictated her message to an employee.
[QUOTE=cloudyandcallie;4321335]
… Thank you Glimmerglass.[/QUOTE]
Thanks and from my view there is just a lot of static out there with unfounded comments, fan chatter (plus jabs from non-fans) which really distorts reality. If I can cull down any of it by at least citing where some credible quotes exist then maybe there is some order and better appreciation for her. Equidaily, Paulick, and a few other sites certainly comb through all the news out there too.
I would be lying if I didn’t say I’ll pass along somethings they might have spied first …
DRF’s Steve Crist has this to say about next steps - which by the way he thought skipping the Alabama was the best thing to do.
As for Rachel Alexandra, guessing and arguing over where she should or will run next remains the best parlor game of this racing season. While the Travers would probably win if owner Jess Jackson put it up for a public vote - it would be the first showdown among a Derby, Preakness, and Belmont winner since the 1982 edition - in some ways it makes the least sense. …
If Jackson runs to his past performances, though, I would bet on either the Pennsylvania Derby or the Woodward. The Pennsylvania Derby would be a virtual walkover and probably a rich one, with slots-rich Philly Park able to jack up the purse at will to attract her. The Woodward, however, would be the more sporting choice, and a chance at real history: She would be the first 3-year-old filly to win, and a victory over older males would just about nail down a Horse of the Year title.
A decision won’t be made until she works Monday morning. Some publicists and journalists are getting grouchy over the constant indecision and delays surrounding her next start, but the half-full view is that it’s actually good for the game: When’s the last time, outside of the Triple Crown or Breeders’ Cup, that racing fans were passionately debating where a racehorse would make his or her next start?
