Rachel Alexandra on track for Personal Ensign Stakes
A racecourse meeting between Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta seems as far away – both geographically and in terms of race programmes – as ever but the latest workout from the reigning Horse of the Year helped to keep the pot boiling.
After Zenyatta maintained her perfect record with an 18th straight victory, in the Grade One Clement L Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday, Rachel Alexandra was out on the track at Saratoga on Monday.
Sixteen days after she had won the 13th of her 18 career starts – the Lady's Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park - Rachel Alexandra put in an impressive six furlongs as her trainer, Steve Asmussen, steps up the filly’s training in preparation for her next race, the Grade One Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga on August 29th.
Ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan, Rachel Alexandra clocked one minute 26.04 seconds and Asmussen looked satisfied with what was the second of four gallops that the trainer has planned before the filly attempts to win what would be the sixth Grade One race of her career.
“I’m pleased with how well she came out of the Monmouth race, how she trained that week, the work last week, it’s just a progression,” Asmussen told the Daily Racing Form. “She’s done really well up here. I’m expecting two more moves before the Personal Ensign. Hopefully the weather will cooperate as much as it has to this point. It’s time to pick it up. We’re trying to get this to climax in November.”
That climax will be the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Churchill Downs, but even then the long-awaited clash may get no closer than the two queens of American racing sharing the track for a morning workout.
While John Shirreffs and Jerry and Ann Moss – the trainer and owners of Zenyatta – have always said that their mare will be out to defend her title in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the connections of Rachel Alexandra have kept the option of the Ladies Classic, which is run on the first day of the meeting and a race that Zenyatta won two years ago. All of which is a far cry from the ballyhoo of the start of the year when the talk was more like a mega-bucks super-fight from the boxing ring.
When Zenyatta emerged from one of the shortest retirements in sporting history in January, Jess Jackson - who owns Rachel Alexandra in partnership with Harold McCormick – was keen to discuss a series of races between the two distaff stars, although that was always going to have one obvious problem in that Zenyatta is based in California, a state that has replaced dirt tracks with the synthetic surfaces that Jackson has boycotted ever since Curlin, his previous Horse of the Year, was beaten in the Classic at Santa Anita two years ago.
However other factors have kept Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra apart since. Firstly there was the decision that Rachel Alexandra was not ready to run in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in April, which Zenyatta turned into an exhibition performance on only her second run away from her home state.
The decision by Asmussen and Jackson was validated, although not to their liking, when Rachel Alexandra was beaten in her next two starts. And even her most recent victory, in the Lady’s Secret (none of her four starts this season has been in a Grade One race), did not convince everyone that she has returned to the same level of form that took her to the Horse of the Year title.
When she was handed that accolade there were many who pointed to the fact the voters had disagreed with the panel of international handicappers who had rated Zenyatta 1lb superior in the World Thoroughbred Rankings.
There appears to be little chance of a meeting between the two prior to the Breeders’ Cup – with Zenyatta slated to prep for the Classic in either the Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita (which was previously called the Lady’s Secret Stakes) or the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park, both of which are run on October 2nd.
So if they manage to miss each other in Churchill Downs, and both win, which way would those whose ballot for the Eclipse Awards cast their votes this time around?
That could be a real pot-boiler.
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