Rachel Alexandra ready for Saturday
Rachel Alexandra completed her preparations for her run on Saturday with a half-mile early morning workout at Saratoga.
The 2009 Horse of the Year breezed over four furlongs, a gallop which was clocked in 49.60 seconds, as her trainer, Steve Asmussen put the final touches to the filly before she runs in the Lady's Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park.
“She's had three moves here, and things have gone as smoothly as we were hoping for,” Asmussen told the Daily Racing Form. “She looked great on the track, just appeared to be nice, loose and happy, and I thought she moved very well. She had a lot of energy and looked confident.”
While Rachel Alexandra is a very welcome visitor to Saratoga racecourse she would be an even more welcome runner during the summer meeting, which begins this week and Asmussen said that a run in the Grade One Personal Ensign Stakes, over 10 furlongs on August 29th, was a “a strong possibility”.
He added: “Right now, we worry about timing more than anything, and we're looking at two or three possibilities off of [the Lady's Secret]. I think she is doing really well right now, and we're hoping it culminates at the end of the year.”
The end of the year will be the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Churchill Downs in November although Jess Jackson, who owns Rachel Alexandra in partnership with Harold McCormick, has not specified between the Ladies’ Classic or the Classic.
There may be only a handful of runners for the Lady’s Secret, worth $400,000, which could include Queen Martha, trained by Patrick Biancone. She won twice in Britain when trained by Mikael Magnusson, the best of which was a 0-75 handicap at Doncaster in June last year, and finished second in a turf allowance race at Monmouth on her American debut in May.
The field in unlikely to be too taxing for Rachel Alexandra who, after two consecutive defeats at the beginning of her season, was showing signs of what earned her that Horse of the Year title when she cruised home to win Grade Two Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs by 10½ lengths last month.
Speaking earlier this week Calvin Borel, who has ridden Rachel Alexandra to her most significant victories, said: “Rachel is doing really well. Steve seems like he’s really got her right. After her last race, I think she’s back on the top of her game. I watched her work when she was down at Churchill and from what I can see, she’s back.”
Monmouth brings good memories for Borel after he and Rachel Alexandra brought the house down with a six-length win in last year’s Grade One Haskell Invitational. “The way the fans reacted to Rachel last year in the Haskell was unbelievable,” Borel said. “Maybe it’s because she’s a filly and for her to beat the boys the way she did was really something special. Rachel did everything we asked her to do last year, and the fans really appreciated that.”
A repeat performance on Saturday would be just as well received.
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