Sep 28 2010
‘R’ is a useful letter. It shows up in Rachel and in Alexandra. It’s there, a couple of times, in “racehorse,” a species of which she was one of the more arresting specimens. See it again in “reigning,” as in “reigning horse of the year,” the phrase almost invariably used to describe her. And now, …
Aug 30 2010
Because of the brevity of the equine career, racing has a curious way of circling back on itself. Sometimes, as in the last couple of weeks, that circling shows, in a smile-bringing way, the value of that most old-fashioned of virtues, persistence. On Arlington Million day, John Gosden, conditioner of Debussy, did his part to …
Jun 10 2010
If you want to get racing folks unhinged, whisper a criticism of either Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta, or their respective connections. Over at the Blood-Horse Jason Shandler has a blog and, apparently, a propensity for tickling the sleeping bear to see what will happen. A few weeks ago, team Zenyatta got the treatment for having …
Feb 11 2010
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, …
Aug 03 2009
In the moments after Rachel Alexandra’s obliteration of six overmatched rivals in yesterday’s Haskell, majority owner Jess Jackson proclaimed, “We’re not going to the Breeders’ Cup.” He needs to reconsider. As if we needed further proof, the Haskell demonstrated again the two best non-turf horses in training today are the two magical fillies, Rachel Alexandra …
Jun 29 2009
It wasn’t a particularly distinguished field that lined up in Saturday’s Vanity Handicap to face defending champ Zenyatta. Just a couple of Grade 2 winners to try to derail her undefeated march to immortality. But it was a virtual Murderers’ Row compared to the opposition faced by Rachel Alexandra in the Mother Goose that same …
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