See link to Bloodhorse article, with current pictures. She looks great.
http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/horse-racing-steve-haskin/archive/2017/08/25/rachel-thriving-eight-years-after-woodward.aspx
MyTheHorseBeWithMe:
Thank you so much for this article!
I LOVED/love that filly/mare.
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As I read the number of times she was whipped at the end, I wondered just how she’d have done if the race had been run under British whip rules.
I was never a fan of Calvin for that reason–thought he was a brute with the whip. I have often wondered if the beating she took was a reason she was so different at four: “If I run very hard, as fast as I can, I get the stuffing beat out of me.”
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^ ^ THIS is why barrel racing pisses me off to no end! ^ ^
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Thank you for posting that article. I love Rachel Alexandra.
Thanks for that article, OP. They should give her to me to ride as hunter.
What ever happened to Rags to Riches? While RA is my favorite, RTR is my 2nd choice.
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So you got me wondering, too. 
Looks like Rags to Riches has been a mum in Ireland for several years now. Not too much success with her get. But considering her owners, would assume she has the best of everything.
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Thanks. maybe the owners of Rags would like her to come back to USA and show hunters. I’d keep mum about her identity. I guess she wasn’t bred to Curlin since he could not catch her.
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She’d have to come back to the states for a Curlin breeding
Wikipedia (not the best source/database, of course) states Rags to Riches returned to the U.S. and was bred to American Pharoah in 2016, in which case there might be a foal. I don’t know how to access the TB databases to research this.
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The same thing was reported in, I think, Paulick’s Report as a possibility. I wasn’t able to find any list/report of mares bred by name; only how many mares bred per stallion.
Maybe someone more connected would know where to go look. Coolmore’s site focuses on the stallions. I did find that in 2014 Shanghai Bobby was bred to a Rags daughter, Opulence (Giant’s Causeway x Rags to Riches).
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While I do like Borel I’ve always thought that last race took the heart out of her. A 3yo filly dueling with a stallion and being pushed that hard for so long. It wasn’t just Macho Again, she was challenged by several older males and had to fight each one off.
I don’t remember which owner this was, but I saw an interview where they talked about their horse being broken by so many challengers in the race. (this was a young male, I think a 3yo too). Each time a horse came up to pass the hockey asked for more and while they did win the race, the horse didn’t have the heart to run anymore. That is what RA looked like after the Woodward. Beaten from within.
But she is the most wonderful girl. What a record, not many come close to what she did. Winning the Preakness from the outside post. Racing against the boys, young and old, and winning. She is a marvel.
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Thank you OP. She was a wonderful girl. We also had Zenyatta to admire, girls against the boys in that era.
Two big, magnificant mares.
I was at Churchill Downs the year Super Saver won (2010). The stands were so packed we gave up and went and watched the saddling enclosure for the day of the Oaks. So glad we did. Rachel came right by us and I got a good shot of her head with that proud, bright, forward look on her face. She was running in La Troienne (G2) and came 2nd.
She looked darker in my picture.
She ran with so much heart…mares - they give their all.
I believe her g. grandfather was Saddler’s Wells one of my favorites for both sport and racing…SW threw soffspring that were versatile both on the flat and the Grand National.
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Great article - thanks for sharing!
It’s a shame that embryo transplant couldn’t be used in a case like this so the RA line could continue without any risk to RA.
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Rileyhorse, I agree.
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