Rachel Alexandra faces four in Personal Ensign Stakes
Rachel Alexandra has been drawn in stall two of a field of five for the Grade One Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga on Sunday.
The reigning Horse of the Year is the odds-on market leader for what is her first run in a Group One race this season, with Calvin Borel in the saddle for the 14th consecutive race and seeking a 12th victory.
It is something of an acid test for Rachel Alexandra in that, after two early-season defeats, Steve Asmussen’s filly has yet to show the full range of her talent in her two subsequent victories this season. Her wins in the Grade Two Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill Downs in June, admittedly by 10½ lengths, and the ungraded Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park last month did not deliver the sense of authority that came when Rachel Alexandra was powering though the opposition in her nine-race unbeaten streak, which included a win in the Grade One Woodward Stakes at Saratoga last September.
Asmussen (pictured) said as much in terms of how it has taken time to get her to the same physical peak. “She’s a year older now and carries a little more weight than she did when she ran here last summer,” he said earlier this week. “She’s more relaxed, happy, and loose. She knows what her job is now. Her last race was very good and hopefully this race will be a building block, a bridge, towards the rest of the year.”
Whether this is a bridge to the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Churchill in November – either for the Ladies Classic or the Classic itself – Rachel Alexandra will have to bridge that gap by conceding weight – between two and 6lbs – all round on her first attempt at 10 furlongs.
The main competition should to be the Todd Pletcher-trained Life At Ten, a winner of her last six races including the Grade One Ogden Phipps Handicap and the Grade the Delaware Handicap, who will break from stall three. The other runners are Miss Singhsix, Persistently and Classofsixtythree.
Jonathan Sheppard has had plenty of success in recent seasons with fillies such as Informed Decision and Forever Together but he is still a formidable presence within the American jumping community. The English-born trainer forged his early reputation in that sphere and he delivered again when Sermon of Love to beat Arcadius, also trained by Sheppard, in the Grade One New York Turf Writers Cup.
Brian Crowley tracked the early pace on Sermon of Love, which was set by Swagger Stick, came with a run off the home turn and settled the stable rivalry with a good jump at the last as Swagger Stick held on for third. As if to prove his strength in depth, Sheppard’s other runner in the race, Divine Fortune, came fourth.
With the win, Sheppard has won every steeplechase race at the Saratoga meeting and he has now won the Turf Writers Cup 13 times.
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