By Ray Paulick
Rachel Alexandra won Saturday’s $1.1-million Preakness Stakes and proved to be the super filly owner Jess Jackson thought she was when he paid a reported $7 million to buy her after her 20 1/4-length Kentucky Oaks victory May 1. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro raced toward the lead from the start from her outside 13 post under Calvin Borel, took command on the turn for home, and held off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to win by a length. Musket Man was another half-length back in third and Flying Private fourth in the Triple Crown’s MIddle Jewel. 

Big Drama, Papa Clem,  Terrain, Luv Gov, General Quarters, Friesan Fire, Pioneerof the Nile, Tone It Down and Take the Points completed the order of finish. 

Rachel Alexandra was the 9-5 betting favorite and paid $5.60 to win.. Click here to view the Preakness chart.

"She’s the greatest horse I’ve ever been on in my life," Borel told NBC’s Donna Brothers after the race, adding that he didn’t think Rachel Alexandra handled the Pimico surface that well. She completed the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.05 on a fast track that was not affected by a rainshower that arrived just prior to the 6:15 p.m. post time.

Becoming the fourth filly to win the Preakness and the first since Nellie Morse in 1924, Rachel Alexandra was just the 11th filly to contest the Preakness since Nellie Morse’s victory. The last filly to run, Excellent Meeting, was pulled up in the 1999 renewal. Borel became the first rider to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on different horses.

Borel had the option to ride either Rachel Alexandra or Mine That Bird and opted to go with the filly, forcing trainer Chip Woolley to seek another jockey. He wound up with Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who took the Derby winner well off the pace, rallied between horses on the turn for home, checked at the top of the stretch, passed Musket Man inside the final sixteenth of a mile but was never a threat to Rachel Alexandra.

Big Drama, as expected, was sent to the front by John Velazguez after rearing in the gate and delaying the start momentarily. But Rachel Alexandra broke well and raced head to head with Big Drama, volleying with that one through fractions of :23.13, :46.71, and 1:11.01 for the opening six furlongs. Rachel Alexandra put away Big Drama before reaching the mile in 1:35.82, opened a four-length advantage at the eighth pole, then dug in and held off Mine That Bird. "She was really struggling with the track," said Borel, who called the Pimlico surface a little deep . "Every time I asked for more, she couldn’t really get into her rhythm."

Steve Asmussen took over training duties of Rachel Alexandra from Hal Wiggins the week after her Kentucky Oaks victory. Asmussen commented after the race that his major contribution was "just staying out of the way."

Rachel Alexandra was previously owned by Mike Lauffer and breeder Dolph Morrison, the latter of whom said he was opposed to running fillies against colts in the Triple Crown classics because he believes those races are meant to showcase future stallions. Morrison and Lauffer didn’t nominate Rachel Alexandra to the Triple Crown, forcing Jackson to put up a $100,000 supplementary fee if she was going to enter. Her status as a supplementary nomination nearly kept her out of the starting gate when Mark Allen, the co-owner of Mine That Bird, and Ahmed Zayat, owner of Kentucky Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile, discussed entering additional horses to fill the field to the maximum 14 starters. Under Pimlico’s conditions for the race, original Triple Crown nominees have priority over supplemented horses. Allen and Zayat backed away from their plan on the same day it surfaced, one week before the Preakness.

Jess Jackson, who bought Rachel Alexandra in partnership with Harold McCormick, said the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes would be "strongly considered," but said he’ll wait to have Asmussen and assistant Scott Blasi assess how she’s come out of the race. "Would we love to run in New York?" Jackson asked. "Yes. Can she win. We think so."

The Preakness was Rachel Alexandra’s sixth consecutive stakes victory, dating back to late November. It was her eighth win in 11 starts.

Jackson said he felt vindicated over the decision made to run Rachel Alexandra against colts in the Preakness. In many ways, he said, that made this victory more satisfying than Curlin’s Preakness win two years ago. Curlin was defeated by the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont. Jackson said he sees no reason fillies can’t beat colts, but agreed with Morrison’s decision to keep Rachel Alexandra out of the Kentucky Derby because, with its 20 starters, it becomes a "cavalry charge" that may not be in the best interests of a filly.

Asmussen said the race didn’t unfold as he expected, with the filly breaking to the outside at the start and then contesting the pace. "There were a lot of questions to be answered today," he said. 

Rachel Alexandra answered those questions resoundingly, and so did Mine That Bird, who proved that his victory in the Kentucky Derby was no fluke. "I’m thrilled to death with the race my little horse ran," said Woolley. "Everything was according to Hoyle, until the turn when he was fanned a little wide. I thought we had a chance at the eighth pole. But you have to give that filly credit. She’s a great one. The Belmont is next for us."

Borel said if given the choice in the Belmont between the Derby winner and Preakness winner, he’d stick with Rachel Alexandra. He added, however, that if the filly does not run he would love to get back on Mine That Bird.

"He’s a tough little dude," Smith said of Mine That Bird. "He worked his way through there and kept on trying. If we could have gone another sixteenth of a mile, I think he would have tackled her….Honestly, he’s one of the best I’ve been on. He’s very balanced."

Derek Ryan, the trainer of Musket Man, who continued his streak of 1-2-3 finishes in all eight of his starts, called Rachel Alexandra "a filly for ages. My horse ran well, but we got beat by a great one."

The Maryland Jockey Club reported attendance of 77,850, down considerably from last year’s 121,876 and the lowest attendance since 1983. For the first time, fans in the infield were barred from bringing their own beer, a decision that led to the smaller and less rowdy crowd. Handle from on- and off-track sources topped $86.7 million on the 13-race program, a big jump from the $73.5 million bet on the 2008 Preakness program.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Tags: Horse Racing, kentucky derby, mine that bird, Paulick Report, pimlico, preakness, Rachel Alexandra, Ray Paulick, Triple Crown

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Horse Racing, preakness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.