By Ray Paulick
What’s that old expression often repeated in the legal world: He who represents himself has a fool for a client? I think a similar statement can be said of some horse owners: He who makes decisions on where and when his horses should run has a fool for a trainer.
That phrase came to mind, not once, but twice this week when the owners of two of America’s highest-profile Thoroughbreds, Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and early Kentucky Derby favorite Eskendereya, made the type of decisions that are better left to their trainers. And the real trainers of these two horses, Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher, respectively, are anything but fools. Both are locks to someday be inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.
Jess Jackson struck first when he issued a press release Sunday declaring Rachel Alexandra out of the April 9 Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park, less than 24 hours after she was defeated in the New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds.
“Yesterday’s race while a disappointment, helped us define Rachel Alexandra’s racing condition,” Jackson said. “While she is healthy, just as I had anticipated, she is not in top form. Therefore, I decided today she will not be going to the Oaklawn Invitational on April 9. Steve and I discussed this fully and we now regret we tried to accelerate her training in order meet the Apple Blossom schedule. We have a whole season before us to help define her greatness. She will tell us when her next race will be.”
The key phrase in the above paragraph is “Therefore, I decided…”
Only a few hours earlier, the Fair Grounds media office sent out the following comments from Asmussen, a two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer: “We don’t have any negative indications yet today. Like anything, you want to be 100% and if you’re not you go from there. We don’t have any negative this morning other than the loss and the hurt feelings of yesterday. Our main concern is how Rachel feels and her well-being and we’re very pleased with her today.”
Two days later, Ahmed Zayat made a decision to pull his Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth winner Eskendereya from an intended start in this Saturday’s Florida Derby and have Pletcher instead send him to Aqueduct for the Wood Memorial on April 3.
“The main issue is timing,” Zayat was quoted in Daily Racing Form as saying. “I’m not really comfortable off the six weeks (the gap between the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby). If I’m genuine about the Kentucky Derby, I need to give the prep I want to make sure he peaks on the right day.”
Zayat, who has been sued by Fifth Third Bank over alleged delinquency on a $34-million loan and has put his racing stable in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, like Jackson has owned racehorses for only a few years. Apparently, he thinks he knows more about training a Thoroughbred than Pletcher, a four-time Eclipse Award winner.
Earlier in the week, Pletcher was quoted in the Miami Herald saying he thought six weeks between starts was just right for Eskendereya. “He won an allowance (at Gulfstream) six weeks out from the Fountain of Youth,” Pletcher said. “So, six weeks seems like good spacing for him.”
Cynics may be thinking Jackson and Zayat–two owners with immodestly sized egos—might be fibbing about their decisions. In the case of Jackson, the real reason to skip the Apple Blossom could be based more on the winning performance by unbeaten champion Zenyatta at Santa Anita the same afternoon Rachel Alexandra lost. He can’t be blamed for wanting no part of Zenyatta at Oaklawn, and for that I say he’s nobody’s fool.
Zayat’s reason could be entirely different. The beleaguered owner has been entertaining offers to sell all or part of Eskendereya to help satisfy his loan obligations, and it’s possible he wants to finalize a deal before the son of Giant’s Causeway makes his next start.
I hope that’s the case. If Zayat thinks he can train a horse better than Pletcher, he really is a fool.
By Ray Paulick
There has been a lot of talk since Charles Cella shocked the racing world with his $5 million Apple Blossom gambit comparing the proposed Rachel Alexandra - Zenyatta confrontation at Oaklawn Park with the storied match race between Triple Crown hero War Admiral and the great Seabiscuit. Jess Jackson, the owner of Rachel Alexandra, likes to talk about how he saw Seabiscuit race in California during his youth. But does Jackson remember that Seabiscuit was defeated in his final race before the match with War Admiral, just as Rachel Alexandra lost her 2010 debut Saturday at Fair Grounds?
I went to the source on all things Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Seabiscuit: An American Legend and asked for her thoughts on yesterday’s performances that went from the agony of defeat for Rachel Alexandra’s camp to the thrill of victory for those backing Zenyatta. Here are Laura Hillenbrand’s thoughts comparing the two rivalries:
There are obvious limits to the parallels one can draw between Seabiscuit-War Admiral and Rachel-Zenyatta. But what came to mind as I watched Rachel lose, and Zenyatta win, is that past is not always precedent in such meetings. War Admiral’s last start before the match race was the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and he won it much as Zenyatta won her race–under wraps, in smashing style. In his last start prior to the match, Seabiscuit was soundly beaten by the soon-to-be champion three-year-old filly, Jacola. He was carrying 24 pounds more than Jacola, and encountered traffic trouble, but she beat him rather impressively, breaking the track record at Laurel. Seabiscuit’s loss made War Admiral even more of a favorite in the match race, but Seabiscuit’s trainer, Tom Smith, wasn’t the least bit worried. The losing effort brought Seabiscuit’s fitness to the place he needed it to be, and he trounced War Admiral a little more than two weeks later.
Zenyatta’s connections were surely hoping to preserve her unbeaten record; for Rachel, a loss would be a much smaller deal, so perhaps they could afford to have her a little less fit, in the service of having her peak in the Apple Blossom.
Times have changed and horses are handled far differently today, but am I crazy in suggesting that there could still be an Apple Blossom between these two with Rachel winning, just as Seabiscuit not only went on to face War Admiral but defeated him soundly?
By Ray Paulick Jerry Moss has been living a dream since moving to California from his native New York in 1960. In 1962, with trumpeter and band leader Herb Albert, he formed A&M Records and over the next quarter century produced music for a diverse group of recording artists ranging from The Carpenters, Joan Baez, Phils Ochs, and Cheech & Chong to Joe Cocker, Janet Jackson, Oingo Boingo, The Tubes and The Police—and that’s only a very small list. He and Alpert were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. His life as a Thoroughbred owner has been pretty groovy, too, especially in recent years. Moss and his wife Ann won the Kentucky Derby with Giacomo in 2005, and Zenyatta has carried them to consecutive Eclipse Awards as champion older mare during an unbeaten career that hit a high note at Santa Anita last November when she became the first distaffer to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. She is currently preparing for an April 9 showdown against Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in the $5-million Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park. Moss also serves on the California Horse Racing Board, having been appointed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004. He was the only member of that panel not to vote in favor of the synthetic track mandate when it was proposed in 2006. Moss abstained, believing more research and study was needed before such a significant change was enacted. He, along with Zenyatta’s trainer, John Shirreffs, have become critics of the synthetic surfaces. Moss spoke with the Paulick Report about the synthetic track controversy and a variety of other subjects. Let’s go back to 2006 when the push was made for synthetic tracks. What was your position? I frankly wasn’t prepared for the speed at which this was enacted. I thought we needed more data and felt we shouldn’t be rushing off to do this, causing tracks to spend $40 million based on one season at Turfway Park. Yet if you were in the room that day–and the truth is every vendor, Polytrack, Cushion Track, Tapeta, they all had people show up and do demonstrations—that meeting was hell bent on doing this. There were only five commissioners present, and the overall support from TOC and CTT (Thoroughbred Owners of California and California Thoroughbred Trainers), and particularly from two trainers, Richard Mandella and Howard Zucker, was rampant. The room was rocking to do this. First I made a statement that we should all study it enough to pick one surface and be consistent and no one took that seriously. We could have managed it better with maintenance. We took this vote, and I was hoping someone would stand up and say, ‘You can’t do this.’ I said, ‘I abstain, I think we need more time.’ We had been fortunate enough to win the Kentucky Derby the previous year with Giacomo, and I felt these tracks would make it so much more difficult for the owner of a California horse to achieve the dream, to win the Derby. Sometimes you can train on Polytrack and do well, but it’s hard to race on it and transfer the same form to dirt. The nature of the tracks changes every day. We run on three different synthetic tracks in Southern California and a fourth, quite different track, is at Golden Gate (near San Francisco), and every one of them changes every day. It’s been very hard for trainers to build up the strength of horses on these tracks. With John Sadler now president of CTT, an open poll of trainers came up with a 70% vote to reinstall dirt. I hope we live up to that. I think it’s a big, divisive thing that’s happened. We have enough divisiveness. If Santa Anita takes the lead and installs a dirt track, it would become the center of racing again in the U.S. People will still complain about the track. Everybody complains about the condition of the track, every trainer. At least with a dirt track you’ve got people with years of experience in maintaining it. With this stuff, nobody knows anything. We were told we wouldn’t need water and that couldn’t be further from the truth. We were told there would be lower maintenance costs. Our horse Tiago had a huge piece of rubber in his nose. It took us weeks and months to get this gook out of his mouth. The fibers melted from the heat. What are some of the other challenges the industry faces in California? Getting our product across to the consumer. I’m pleased that the CHRB is really concentrating on the mini-satellites. We’ve had a bill put forth in the state legislature that seemed to allow a greater number of them to commence operations, but there’s a restriction they had to be 20 miles away from an existing track or wagering site. In all this time, only one mini-satellite got set up—at a card club in Gardena, and they’re doing really well. It showed people still have an appetite for our game. A friend of mine owns movie theaters and wants to incorporate bet facilities in movie theaters. I think it’s a great idea, yet nobody seems to be jumping up and down about it. The thing that really gets me down about our game is we have so many wise men who are so negative. I feel that’s what’s plaguing our industry. Not enough guys who want to put their money up and take a shot. The dream keeps getting dimmer. There are some new thoughts blossoming. Our new CHRB chairman (Keith Brackpool) has some good ideas, some practical ideas. He’s thinking positively. What needs to happen to reverse the trend? Leadership. Are there national solutions to racing’s challenges? I firmly believe you need a national presence. We need to figure a way to do this. We’ve got these little fiefdoms, powerful in their regions. There’s no national medication policy; it’s like the Cincinnati Reds playing on different drugs than the New York Mets. It’s just not right. Different rules apply to different places. There’s got to be some national policy. It’s been tried. Business has to operate with one negotiator. It’s also gotten to be too hard for the public to get to see these races, like the Derby preps last weekend. These were some big races, but they weren’t on ESPN and were hardly reported in the papers. The Kentucky Derby still gets a good (television) rating, and the Breeders’ Cup is a big event. People do tune in on big days. But look at something like NASCAR. They are all over the place. Your expertise is in entertainment, and you’ve seen a lot of changes in the music business in terms of distribution and technology. What has the music industry done differently in the face of those changes, as opposed to how the racing industry has reacted? The internet has taken its toll on the sale of records. A large segment of the population started exchanging files and getting music for free. But artists are still making music and the emphasis for making money for these artists is through new sources—personal appearances. Artists in this for the long haul have to keep performing, attach themselves to an audience, people who show up for them, and buy their products. It is possible to be a success in the music industry. Television is more important than before. If you’re talented you’ve got to get your message to the people—and promote it. What are the chances state government can help in California? California breeding has gone way down. California homebreds used to make up a much bigger percentage of the races. State government has done very little in the time I’ve been on the CHRB. It’s very disappointing what the legislature or governor have done for the industry–so far it’s been dismal. But the state is in trouble. I understand where Arnold (Gov. Schwarzenegger) is having to reduce money for breast cancer diagnosis. How can he do something for a rich man’s game like horse racing while reducing the number of teachers in our schools. Clearly, we need some help. But positive thinking and a unified approach to the legislature and governor would certainly benefit. We’ve got to think more positively. People have to let go of some things. We have to move on. We gave up the stage coach a long time–and we moved on. You mentioned how musicians are now emphasizing personal appearances more today. Can racing ever recapture some of the on-track business it lost to simulcasting and advance-depoisit wagering? My belief is that people’s habits have changed. I don’t know if people have that much leisure time these days. In the 1980s when on-track business was strong, you still had the same number of sports–basketball, baseball, NFL, lots of different stuff. Today everybody has to work harder, our economy is still in trouble. To come out and hang out for the whole afternoon is hard for people, their attention spans have changed. That’s why you’ve got to make TV a little easier for them. Are we better off with ADW, even though it’s had a negative effect on on-track business? Yes I’d have to say so. At least it’s brought in the opportunity of a new generation that understands the internet effectively enough to place a wager. I bet on TVG now and then. I think it’s a handy tool. And I’m happy that BetFair owns TVG. Gaming professionals understand racing. They understand gaming. I think they do a pretty good job on TVG—they try to be entertaining. It would have been very easy to send Zenyatta off to Kentucky to be bred after her second Eclipse Award. What factors went into your decision to keep her in training? The initial decision to retire her was purely mine. After the Breeders’ Cup Classic I said what else can I ask her to do? I didn’t talk to my wife, to anybody on the team, I just said I think we’ve got to retire her. We went to visit her at the barn and this was a horse that obviously was liking her job. She’s been there four years now, and we were, what, going to send her to Kentucky? Before the Eclipse Awards, my wife and I said if John thinks she can go another year and she’s happy, let’s do it. She loves the show, she loves the people. The Classic didn’t take that much out of her. John and Dottie (racing manager Dottie Ingordo, Shirreffs’ wife) said, ‘Yeah, she can be pretty good next year.’ The decision to retire her was an emotional one on my part and the decision to keep her in training was more of a reasonable one. She’s a star. How can racing seize the opportunity to promote the Apple Blossom and any other races involving Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra? I believe Mr. (Charles) Cella is a great showman. He’s almost in a class by himself. Back in 1927, someone said, ‘Mr. O’Brien the most amazing thing has happened; a man has flown across the Atlantic Ocean all by himself.’ O’Brien says, ‘That’s fantastic, but let me know when a committee does it. That would be amazing.’ The point is an individual can accomplish anything. Charlie was able to pull this off and you’ve got to give him credit for it. Whatever devise he wants to promote this race is absolutely fine, and I believe he’ll come out of it making money.
Today, the Paulick Report received a puzzling email from PETA claiming that the upcoming Apple Blossom featuring Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta would be a ‘grueling match race’. They went on to compare the April 9th race to the infamous breakdowns of Ruffian and Go For Wand.
It appears that someone needs a dictionary or at least a cursory knowledge of what a match race actually is. Of course, the Apple Blossom will have a much larger field than the two super fillies and not once was the idea of a match race even discussed. It makes one think of the Happy Days episode when The Fonz jumped a shark, causing the hit show to lose credibility overnight. On second thought, that’s implying that PETA had any credibility to lose.
This morning, PETA fired off letters to Jerry Moss and Jess Jackson imploring them not to enter their fillies—Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, respectively—in what is essentially a grueling "match race" scheduled for April 9 during the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. In the letters, PETA points out that in an industry that causes the deaths of more than 1,000 thoroughbreds on the tracks every year, match races and other extreme duels have proved to be particularly deadly for famous fillies, including Ruffian and Go For Wand, who were both fatally injured on the track.
"Forcing horses to race to the point at which their bodies can’t handle the stress is cruel enough, but pitting Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra against each other in a race that could easily claim one—or even both—of their lives takes that cruelty to new heights," says PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo. "These two fillies have bestowed enough fame and prestige on their owners to last a lifetime, and their ‘reward’ shouldn’t be to have to run the toughest race of their lives."
PETA’s letter to Jerry Moss follows. PETA’s similar letter to Jess Jackson is available upon request.
Dear Mr. Moss,
I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our 2 million members and supporters to urge you not to enter Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Invitational. This race is being touted as a duel between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. History shows that these types of match races are dangerous to fillies. As I’m sure you remember, Ruffian suffered a catastrophic breakdown in her match race with Foolish Pleasure and was euthanized. Go For Wand, in a race that was essentially a match race with Hall of Fame filly Bayakoa, fractured her leg at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The tragic deaths of these great fillies in front of national audiences sent shockwaves throughout the industry and the country.
Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra have already secured their places in racing history as champion fillies. They have nothing to prove. Pitting these competitive fillies against each other would be risking their lives just for spectacle. Why jeopardize their safety by forcing them into the toughest race of their careers, pushing them to their limits and beyond? And the risks are compounded by the fact that the race is scheduled in April—too early in the season to subject these fillies to such intense physical demands.
More than 1,000 thoroughbred horses break down and are subsequently euthanized on tracks in the U.S. every year. May I have your assurance that you won’t risk adding Zenyatta to this statistic?
By Ray Paulick
Jess Jackson could have waited until Friday night at 9 o’clock or so to send out a press release anouncing his regrets for not pointing Rachel Alexandra to the April 3 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park. Oaklawn owner Charles Cella had proposed increasing the Apple Blossom’s purse to $5 million if Jackson’s 2009 Horse of the Year and the unbeaten two-time champion mare Zenyatta were both in the starting lineup for the race.
That’s what the president of Toyota did—schedule a press conference for 9 p.m. on a Friday night–to respond to mounting public outrage over safety problems with cars produced by the world’s leading automotive manufacturer. Spin doctors always advise their clients to put bad news out late on a Friday to get the lowest possible publicity and media coverage.
But not Jess Jackson. He had the courage to send out a press release at the end of the business day on a Wednesday, when most racetracks East of the Mississippi were closed due to blizzard conditions. His press release was very clever, too, utilizing an old-fashioned smokescreen—a grand proposal for a three-race series between the two distaffers—to obscure the fact Rachel Alexandra would skip the Apple Blossom. To make matters worse, he made trainer Steve Asmussen the fall guy who had to deliver the bad news: ““Out of respect for the level of competition and the importance of this race, I have told Mr. Jackson it was not in the best interest of the horse to race on April 3,” Asmussen was quoted as saying in the press release. “Getting to this level of fitness after a six-month layoff takes time. If all goes according to schedule, and we do not have any further weather delays, the earliest we could have a prep race would be the middle of March. It is then not fair to Rachel to ask her to race again three weeks later.”
I could be wrong, but I think that’s the most Jackson has allowed Asmussen to say since the California winemaker bought Rachel Alexandra after her victory in the Kentucky Oaks last spring.
But the confusing part of the release was Jackson’s statement that the proposed racing series between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta has been “in the works for several weeks.” If that’s the case, why did Jackson indicate even the slightest bit of interest when Cella proposed the Apple Blossom purse increase?
Also, why is Jackson suddenly relying on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to put something together? The NTRA owns no racetracks, has no authority over tracks, stakes schedules or race conditions, and doesn’t even have any juice left with television networks.
If anything, Jackson should be asking the Breeders’ Cup—not the NTRA–for assistance in putting the series together and promoting it, since racing fans hope the two fillies will remain sound throughout 2010 and eventually go head-to-head in either the Breeders’ Cup Classic or Ladies’ Classic this fall at Churchill Downs. A series of races betweem the two leading up to the Breeders’ Cup would be in that organization’s best interests, and the Breeders’ Cup does have stronger ties to ESPN for broadcast opportunities.
Finally, if the proposal by Jackson was genuine, why on earth were Jerry and Ann Moss not even mentioned in the press release. As Zenyatta’s owners, I think they might want to have some say in this proposed series.
Today, Jess Jackson released the following press release proposing a three race series between Rachel and Zenyatta. This proposal comes on the heels of Rachel’s connections informing Oaklawn Park that they are unable to commit Rachel to the Apple Blossom.
Read the release below and let us know what you think.
Working with NTRA to Coordinate Three Races between Rachel and Zenyatta
The owners of Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, today called for a racing series between now and November in which the two phenomenal female race horses will meet.
“The fans have spoken. The media has spoken. Everyone wants to see Rachel race against Zenyatta - including me,” said Rachel Alexandra co-owner Jess Jackson. “In fact, I want it to happen several times this year. We have been in discussions with Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of National Thoroughbred Racing Association, with the hope of coordinate training schedules, racing schedules, purses and all ancillary factors, so that we can all agree upon three dates and three venues for what will be a racing series to rival the Triple Crown.”
The proposal, in the works for several weeks, comes as Rachel Alexandra’s connections informed Oaklawn Park race track that she would not compete on April 3rd, the announced date of the Apple Blossom Invitational. “Out of respect for the level of competition and the importance of this race, I have told Mr. Jackson it was not in the best interest of the horse to race on April 3. Getting to this level of fitness after a six-month layoff takes time. If all goes according to schedule, and we do not have any further weather delays, the earliest we could have a prep race would be the middle of March. It is then not fair to Rachel to ask her to race again three weeks later,” said 2010 Trainer of the Year, Steve Asmussen.
The track had offered a $5-million purse if Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta met on that day. Rachel’s connections had requested a week delay in order to have Rachel race at Oaklawn Park against Zenyatta but track officials told Jackson today that would not be possible.
“Hopefully, these discussions will take place at earliest possible time so that we can announce something that will give the fans a season to remember,” Jackson added.
Rachel Alexandra, the reigning 2010 Horse of the Year, became the first filly to win the Preakness since 1924, beating a field of world-class males, including Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird. She went undefeated throughout the 2009 campaign, defeating world-class colts three times.
By Ray Paulick
A potential April 3 matchup at Oaklawn Park between Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and unbeaten, two-time champion Zenyatta may be the best news racing fans have heard in a long time. Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella announced the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap would have its purse bumped from $500,000 to $5 million if both horses run, and the race would be lengthened from 1 1/16 miles to nine furlongs. It would change from a handicap to an invitational if both participated. If either fails to enter, the Apple Blossom would revert back to a $500,000 race.
Left unaddressed in the press release from Oaklawn Park was whether any network television plans for the race have been formulated beyond TVG and HRTV. April 3 is a busy day on the racing and sports calendar.
NBC will be televising two important races for 3-year-olds late that afternoon, the Wood Memorial from Aqueduct and Santa Anita Derby from Santa Anita Park in Southern California. Would NBC try to squeeze the Apple Blossom into the same broadcast, and would Oaklawn Park agree to share such a marquee event with two prep races for the Kentucky Derby?
The NBC deal was done with Churchill Downs, not the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which formerly was responsible for much of the horse racing industry’s television exposure, primarily on the ESPN family of networks. The NTRA, while no longer in the television business and Oaklawn Park no longer a member of the NTRA, have assured the Paulick Report they will aggressively work with all parties to promote this event. According to Keith Chamblin, “The NTRA has and will continue to do everything it possibly can to maximize the promotion and television exposure of a showdown between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta.”
Post time for the Apple Blossom could be a tricky decision, too. If the race is run after 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (Arkansas is in the Central time zone), it could go head to head with the first of two Final Four games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament from Indianaapolis, which will be televised on CBS that evening. If it is run between 4:30-5:30 p.m. Eastern, it could butt heads with the Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby.
Needless to say, with the Final Four games scheduled that night, horse racing will have a difficult time getting much coverage in the mainstream press around the country. But if Oaklawn Park can pull it off, it will be a huge day for the Arkansas racetrack, and existing fans of the sport will have got what they wanted.
After much speculation, Oaklawn Park’s press conference today confirmed that Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta are being lured to Hot Springs for Oaklawn’s Grade 1 Apple Blossom. What wasn’t expected was the $5 million price tag that President Charles J. Cella and company put on what will undoubtedly be billed as the race of the year.
Read the press release below and then let us know what you think.
PRESS RELEASE
Oaklawn Announces $5 Million Apple Blossom
HOT SPRINGS, AR (Feb. 4, 2010) – Calling it “one of the most important moments at Oaklawn and in Arkansas sports,” Oaklawn President Charles J. Cella announced Thursday that Oaklawn will increase the purse of the April 3 Grade I Apple Blossom to $5 million provided champions Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta both start.
At a morning press conference, Cella reported that he has spoken with the owners of both Rachel Alexandra (Jess Jackson) and Zenyatta (Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss). Both showed enthusiasm for bringing their champions to Oaklawn for the first Saturday of the famed Racing Festival of the South.
Rachel Alexandra (Three-Year-Old Filly) and Zenyatta (Older Filly or Mare) were unanimous Eclipse Award winners in their respective divisions in 2009 and were the only finalists for horse racing’s highest honor – The Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. In one of the closest ballots in recent memory, Rachel Alexandra was named Horse of Year.
Oaklawn has long been perceived as the ideal neutral ground for the dream matchup, because both have used the Arkansas oval as a launching pad to future success.
As a lightly-raced but promising 4-year-old in 2008, Zenyatta captured her first Grade 1 victory in that year’s Apple Blossom, beating then reigning champion Ginger Brew among others in her only start outside of California and only start on a conventional dirt surface. She has since gone on to post a perfect 14-for-14 record, highlighted by her victory in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic and her victory against males in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic, in what was believed at the time to be the final race of her career. Rumblings about Zenyatta’s “un-retirement” began to be felt in December and Moss made it official Saturday, Jan. 16.
Rachel Alexandra kicked off her three-year-old campaign at Oaklawn with a pair of eye-popping stakes wins in the Martha Washington and the Fantasy Stakes. Her record victory in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Kentucky Derby clearly stamped her as the best three-year-old filly in the nation. She proved more than that in her next start when she became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes in 85 years. Rachel Alexandra beat three-year-old colts again in the Haskell and became the first three-year-old filly to win the prestigious Woodward Stakes against older males in September.
Should both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta start, this year’s Apple Blossom will be an invitational event. Other leaders in the filly and mare division will be invited to participate. The $5 million purse will be the largest purse for a filly and mare race in the history of North American thoroughbred racing.
“We have always pursued a goal of bringing the world’s best racing to Arkansas,” Cella said. “That is what led us to create the Racing Festival of the South more than 30 years ago. We have been even more fortunate in recent years. That gives us the opportunity to fulfill the promises we continually make to our fans, our horsemen and all of our supporters – should this race come off as expected, it will most certainly fulfill every promise made.”
The distance of the race, historically contested at a mile-and-one-sixteenth, will be extended to a mile-and-one-eighth.
Should Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta fail to start, the Grade I Apple Blossom will revert to its original status as of February 3, with a purse of $500,000 Guaranteed.
Invitations to media outlets have been sent out to promote what the Oaklawn Jockey Club is calling ‘one of the greatest stakes races’ in the history of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Of course, specifics were not given, but it would not be a huge leap to assume they are hinting towards a Zenyatta v. Rachel matchup. Is there any other field of horses today that could even sniff that claim?
The article goes on to point out that the Apple Blossom Handicap is coming around soon, a race that has been mentioned as a possible opportunity for the two female stars to finally have their showdown.
Sam Houston Race Park and sponsor Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale continue their pursuit of an epic Rachel v. Zenyatta meeting in Texas. Increasing the maximum purse to $2 million, the date has tentatively been set for March 27 and would be called the Gallery Furniture Distaff.
