Anybody want a Duesenberg?

In accepting the Rachel Alexandra-earned Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, Jess Jackson noted that he and Jerry and Ann Moss — owners of second place finisher Zenyatta — spoke frequently during the year.

Apparently, he has since lost the Mosses’ number.

In a sport with a long, rich history of self-serving publicity stunts, Jackson’s latest is, as the old folks say, a doozy (more accurately rendered, “it’s a Duesy,” after the Duesenberg car that inspired the expression).

No surprise that Rachel isn’t going to run in the Apple Blossom.  Given the relatively short schedule between now and the beginning of April, it always seemed like a minor longshot that the big girl would go to the post in that race.  A lot would have needed to go right for her to be ready to roll.

Nor is it a shock that Jackson has been “in discussions” regarding a three-race series between his star, Rachel Alexandra, and the Mosses’ uber-mare Zenyatta.  Just about everyone in racing would love to see the two face each other, and many folks have floated multi-race contests as the (theoretically) fairest way to decide who has the mostest hoss.

It’s not the “what” in this case that renders this latest gambit nothing more than stunt, it’s the “who,” or, more precisely, the “with whom.”

Because Jackson hasn’t actually spoken with the Mosses about his whiz-bang idea.

Nope.  Instead, he chatted with Alex Waldrop, head of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.  Waldrop, it should be noted, owns zero percent of the two horses in question and controls, err, zero racetracks at which the horses he doesn’t own might run.

This head-scratcher caused Jerry Moss to reply, “I have no idea what he’s even talking about!”  Which sounds an awful lot like, “Who the hell is Alex Waldrop, and why the hell are you talking to him about my freakin’ horse!??!”

It’s not hard to see what’s happening here.  Jackson imagined that he might steal a march on the Mosses, generate momentum for an idea entirely of his making, and force them to accept a multi-race contest on his terms.  Oh, and he’d also get everyone in racing to genuflect in his direction.

More puzzling is why Waldrop, who by most accounts is a smart guy, has allowed himself to be played in this regard; his office issued a milquetoast-y statement about wanting to facilitate a meeting of the fab distaffers, but what he needed to say was, “Jess, I will sit down at the appopriate time with you and Jerry together, but I can’t put myself in the middle of this conversation until the two of you are on the same page.”  Instead, he has allowed himself and his organization to be the hammer in Jackson’s toolbox.

Judging from early returns, this one seems to have blown up in the winemaker’s face, and deservedly so.

If the two sides are serious about facing each other — and certainly nothing in their prior public statements or actions would lead us to doubt that — then there’s an obvious solution.  Jackson and Asmussen on one side of the table, Jerry Moss and trainer John Shirreffs on the other, determining together which races best fit their schedules.  Ideally, one can envision a three-race schedule: one race of Camp Zenyatta’s choosing, one of Camp Rachel’s choosing, and the finale at the Breeders’ Cup.

But don’t bet your Duesenberg on that happening.