At 6:20 a.m., with the Belmont Park backstretch roosters screeching madly, Rachel Alexandra walks up the ramp onto the Sallee horse van and is promptly shuttled north to Saratoga Springs. Among other things, her Saratoga trunk was packed with her own personal stall gate, and riding along with her on the 200-mile journey were the stable pony, assistant trainer Scott Blasi and his 13-year-old son, Blaine.
A little more than three hours pass, and Blasi reports by cell phone that Rachel has come out of her record-setting victory in the Mother Goose in fine fashion and is safely ensconced in her summer residence, which happens to be Curlin's former stall, right next to Blasi's office in trainer Steve Asmussen's barn near the Oklahoma Training Track at Saratoga Race Course.
"The weather is beautiful, nice and cool and sunny," says Blasi. "She's about to have her lunch and then she's going to take a nap. And, she's right next to me, which is great."
Blasi, like most everyone else, gets kind of dreamy-eyed when he talks about Rachel. He calls her powerful and feminine; professional and elegant; competitive and confident.
"She struts when she walks," he says, "kinda like a supermodel."
More importantly, she runs like a champion, and while Asmussen declines to speculate, who can resist dreaming about Saratoga and a Shadwell Travers matching the Kentucky Derby winner, Mine That Bird, Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, and Rachel Alexandra? Or how about a Shadwell Travers featuring Mine That Bird and Summer Bird on Aug 29 and the very next day, having the Personal Ensign be the first meeting between Rachel and her West coast counterpart, the undefeated Zenyatta?
Can't hardly wait!
Come to Arlington Park please! Would love to see Rachel.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if they are toing to post video of her works up at Saratoga as they did Curlin's breezes last year. That would be incredible to see. If anyone has the ability please make it happen. Those of us down here in Arkansas where she started to become famous at Oaklawn Park would love to be able to see her work.
ReplyDeleteThe Travers Win will seal Rachel as "2009 Horse of the Year" [sidebar: Her Sire won it, would be nice to see his daughter uphold the family banner.] toni, Va.
ReplyDeleteI agree, if she were to run in that race and win HOY would be a done deal with some consistent wins back against her own gender later in the year. People hearing about the suspensory injury to Pioneer of the Nile, can now back off of Jess Jackson and his decision to skip the Breeders Cup. No one ragged Brereton C. Jones when he announced Proud Spell would not be running on synthetics last year in the B.C. so with that being said, I would love to see her start in the Coaching Club American Oaks, then the Travers. For some reason people feel she has something to prove at 1 1/4 mile, I dont know why, she runs the 1 1/8 like its nothing winning the last two races at that distance by 40 lengths. I find it sad that people dont realize that the only reason she was caught up in quick fractions in the Preakness is because she was so far outside, and Borel had to turn the engine on to clear the field and then try to switch the engine back off to get a breather for the length of those internal fractions. Right now she is learning to run her race as she did in the Oaks and in the Mother Goose. The classic Distance of 1 1/4 mile is going to be a piece of cake for this super filly.
ReplyDelete