Retirement plans for Rachel Alexandra still on hold
After Rachel Alexandra suffered a surprise defeat in the Grade One Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga last month her trainer, Steve Asmussen, and majority owner, Jess Jackson, did not want to talk about retiring the filly.
They decided to wait until she went back into work and her workout on Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track on Monday may encourage them to persevere. Rachel Alexandra clocked one minute 00.65 seconds for five furlongs, ridden by her former workrider Dominic Terry, who had parted with Asmussen earlier this year.
There has been no official statement in terms of Rachel Alexandra’s next race, if there is to be one, but the Grade One Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park on October 2nd could be next on the list. A run in the Beldame would fit in with Asmussen’s previously stated race programme that allowed five weeks between races for Rachel Alexandra in her build up towards a run in the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Churchill Downs.
Given that she looked to be a non-stayer over the 10 furlongs of the Personal Ensign it would appear that a decision over which race to aim for at Churchill has been taken, with the nine-furlong Ladies Classic the logical move as opposed to the $5million Classic.
That would rule out a clash with Zenyatta, currently scheduled to run next in the Lady's Secret Stakes at Hollywood Park on the same day as the Beldame, who is on course to defend her title in the Classic.
One horse who will not be making the line-up for the Classic is Super Saver who has been put on a 60-day box rest order after tests revealed the colt was suffering from bone bruising in all four legs.
The box rest was the decided upon after a thorough examination by Dr Larry Bramlage at the Rood and Riddle equine clinic in Kentucky.
Super Saver, had been beaten in all three starts since he won the Kentucky Derby at Churchill in May, and Elliott Walden, racing manager for the colt’s owner, WinStar Farm, told the Daily Racing Form that they will review the situation in mid-November when “we’ll see where we stand with him and whether or not we’ll be sending him to Palm Meadows to train this winter.”
Walden also admitted that the diagnosis had at least provided some explanation for the colt’s dramatic loss of form which saw his run down the field to finish eighth in the Preakness, fourth in the Haskell Invitational and then a 24-length 10th of 11 to Afleet Express in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga last month.
“After the Travers, we knew we had to have him thoroughly examined, because ever since the Derby, obviously he just hadn’t performed to expectations,” he said. “He’d proven he’s a lot better than he’d been running. Sure enough, Dr Bramlage said the pictures lit up on the bottom of all four cannon bones. It’s pretty typical of bone bruising that he would’ve been running like he was.”
Michael Martinez, one of the leading jockeys in northern California, is in critical condition at Highland Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a fall at Golden Gate Fields on Sunday.
The jockey, 13th in the national standings with 168 winners, was unseated in a five-furlong claimer shattered three thoracic vertebrae, one of which severed his spinal cord. Martinez also had a severe head injury, six broken ribs, torn blood vessels on both sides of his ribs and bleeding in both lungs.
Dr David Seftel, the racecourse doctor, said: “As far as I'm concerned, this is the worst accident I've seen in 10 years at the racetrack. Michael had 11 hours of surgery to remove multitudinous fragment pieces and stabilize the spinal column. As of this time he is paralyzed from the waist down.”
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