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THOROUGHBRED BEAT SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 by James Scully Rachel the Great: RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d'Oro) made history in Saturday's Woodward S. (G1), becoming the first filly ever to win the prestigious event for older horses, and sealed the deal for Horse of the Year honors. It was a remarkable performance. After breaking alertly under Calvin Borel, she contested an opening quarter-mile in :22.85, a suicidal early fraction for a 1 1/8-mile trip at Saratoga. One race earlier, Grade 1 sprinters ripped through a first quarter-mile in :22.48 in the seven-furlong Forego and the front-runners folded their tents by the stretch run, with the top three spots going to closers. We've seen tracks on big Saturdays play toward fast times, resulting in a speed-favoring oval that yields multiple wire-to-wire winners, but only one horse went wire to wire in five dirt races on the Woodward undercard. It was setting up for a closer as Rachel Alexandra reached the half-mile mark in :46.41 with a one-length lead. BULLSBAY (Tiznow) and ASIATIC BOY (Arg) (Not For Sale) were in full flight on the far turn, advancing steadily toward the filly, and Stephen Foster H. (G1) winner MACHO AGAIN (Macho Uno) was beginning to find his best stride from farther back. Rachel Alexandra entered the stretch with a tenuous advantage, as her rivals began to bunch up behind her, and Borel made a heady play at this point, resisting the urge to ask for her best. He tapped her on her front right shoulder a few times before going to work on her in midstretch, and Rachel Alexandra responded, spurting clear momentarily. She was all heart the rest of the way to the wire. Macho Again made a desperate run in deep stretch, whittling the margin to a head in the best performance of his career, but he couldn't catch the one-of-a-kind filly. Rachel Alexandra persevered in gigantic fashion. Rest time: Rachel Alexandra will likely head to the sidelines for the rest of the year with a nine-race winning streak in tow. She went eight-for-eight in 2009, earning century-topping BRIS Speed ratings in each start, and posted a phenomenal 100 BRIS Late Pace rating in Saturday's Woodward following her grueling early exploits. Her best Speed number was a 116 for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The only chance of her running again would be in a match-up against ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) in the October 3 Beldame S. (G1). It's a race every Thoroughbred racing fan would love to see, but it's not going to happen. And while it's a bitterly disappointing situation, the logic's sound. The Breeders' Cup has been Zenyatta's target all season, so why jeopardize her chances at Santa Anita by shipping to Belmont Park in October? If she got beaten soundly in the Beldame, Zenyatta could go off form in the Breeders' Cup. She's got a much better chance of winning the Classic (G1) on Pro-Ride than beating Rachel Alexandra on dirt, and a victory over males would be a glorious way for her to exit the stage unbeaten. So we'll have to wait to see Rachel Alexandra again in 2010, and it's going to be an exciting build-up toward her return. It figures to be a wild season, one never seen in modern times, if she makes it to her ultimate goal, the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. Every Grade 1 event on dirt for older horses is a possible target, as Jess Jackson and Steve Asmussen have the flexibility to navigate between races for females and males, and she'll scare off competition anywhere she goes. Richard's upset: RICHARD'S KID (Lemon Drop Kid) closed extremely wide off of the far turn and ran past nine rivals in the stretch to earn his first graded win in Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic (G1), surprising most folks at 24-1. It was easy to quickly dismiss the upset as another byproduct of the synthetic tracks, where horses who aren't near Grade 1 caliber on the dirt can suddenly revitalize their racing careers with major victories on controversial new surfaces, but the rush to judgment was premature. Richard's Kid clearly took to the Polytrack at Del Mar, finishing second by a nose in the 1 1/2-mile Cougar II H. prior to Sunday's shocker, but the four-year-old had the right to move forward on any surface. There's a long line of late-blooming horses who became a major factor in Grade 1 dirt races after toiling for a couple of seasons at a lower level. 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam is a lofty example -- he couldn't win the Iowa Derby and finished sixth in a 1 1/8-mile dirt allowance at Saratoga during his three-year-old campaign. After launching his racing career in 2007, Richard's Kid didn't break his maiden until less than a year ago at Laurel Park. The Maryland-bred displayed plenty of promise when capturing his stakes debut in February, earning a 106 BRIS Speed rating for a one-length score in the John B. Campbell H. over Bullsbay, who would go on to win the Whitney H. (G1) this summer. Richard's Kid didn't show much in his next two starts, finishing up the track in the New Orleans H. (G2) and Harrison E. Johnson Memorial H., but both races came over sloppy tracks. Freshened until the 1 1/16-mile William Donald Schaefer S. (G3) on the Preakness S. (G1) undercard, he offered a belated rally for fourth off a slow pace. With only four stakes starts to his credit, Richard's Kid was shipped to Bob Baffert in California. The dark bay colt tried the grass in the Eddie Read S. (G1), recording a dismal seventh, and made his synthetic debut in the Cougar II. Richard's Kid must still prove that the Pacific Classic was no fluke, but he's the type of horse who might back it up. Baffert: On a holiday weekend loaded with stakes action, Bob Baffert was the king of Del Mar, sweeping the final three Grade 1 events, and he wound up with five of the nine Grade 1 trophies during the entire meet. ZENSATIONAL (Unbridled's Song) lived up to his billing in Sunday's Pat O'Brien S. (G1), recording his third straight important win over elder rivals and confirming his status as the favorite for the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) with a 2 1/4-length victory. He's registered commendable BRIS Speed ratings of 102-104-103 on the synthetic tracks. Baffert capped the huge weekend with LOOKIN AT LUCKY (Smart Strike), who gave him a ninth title in the Del Mar Futurity (G1). The recently inducted Hall of Famer holds a strong hand for the Breeders' Cup. The unbeaten Lookin at Lucky should appreciate longer distances similar to 2008 Futurity winner Midshipman (Unbridled's Song), who capped his championship season with a victory in Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), and the silver-haired conditioner could have viable contenders in at least five of the 13 Breeders' Cup races. His stable is firing on all cylinders presently. Sleepy Debutante: Following her smashing 6 1/2-length victory in the Sorrento S. (G3), MI SUENO (Pulpit) delivered a workmanlike effort in Saturday's Darley Debutante (G1), re-rallying in midstretch to win by a length in a tight finish. The first foal out of Grade 1-winning millionaire Madcap Escapade (Hennessy), the Eric Guillot-trained filly will look to keep her momentum going through the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Madcap Escapade made her mark as a sprinter, capturing the 2005 editions of the Princess Rooney H. (G2), Shirley Jones H. (G2) and Madison S. (G3) at shorter distances, but her biggest career victory came in the 2004 Ashland S. (G1) at 1 1/16 miles. She also finished a respectable third in the nine-furlong Kentucky Oaks (G1). Mi Sueno should get endurance from sire Pulpit, and she'll have the opportunity to stretch out to two turns for the first time in the Oak Leaf S. (G1) at Santa Anita on October 4. Even though she earned only a 88 BRIS Speed rating in the Darley Debutante, Mi Sueno looks like a standout in a thin juvenile filly division out west. Dominant Dixie: She was 1-5 off of a spectacular 6 1/4-length victory in Schuylerville S. (G3), and HOT DIXIE CHICK (Dixie Union) ran to her odds in Sunday's Spinaway S. (G1) at Saratoga, posting a comfortable 1 3/4-length decision for Asmussen. Her pedigree isn't encouraging for longer distances, but it would be no surprise to see the Grace Stables colorbearer stretch out successfully to 1 1/16 miles this season. Indian Blessing easily captured the 2007 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies before shifting her focus to shorter distances last season. The Breeders' Cup makes sense for Hot Dixie Chick. It will enhance her legacy while guaranteeing championship honors, and she'll be the horse to beat if she handles the transition to Pro-Ride. But that's the problem. Her owner, Barbara Banke, is the wife of "Plastic-Hater" Jess Jackson, and Hot Dixie Chick could be kept out of the Breeders' Cup due to sheer spite for the oval at Santa Anita. Rachel Alexandra, who actually won her lone start on a synthetic track as a two-year-old, has already wrapped up Horse of the Year and divisional honors. It's easy to understand why she'll skip the Breeders' Cup, but it's a different situation for Hot Dixie Chick. Eclipse Award voters will have other options if her connections elect to stay away from California in order to compete against small fields of overmatched rivals on the dirt this fall. The decision to schedule two consecutive Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita was a blunder, but we have to deal with it once more before getting back to traditional surfaces that don't penalize dirt horses. Jackson has every right to dislike the synthetic tracks following the experience of Curlin, who suffered the only unplaced finish of his career in the 2008 Classic, but Hot Dixie Chick deserves the chance to win the Juvenile Fillies. Some horses can handle both surfaces, with Indian Blessing being a prime example. A Grade 1 winner on dirt and synthetic, she garnered her 2008 Eclipse Award with a strong performance in last year's Filly & Mare Sprint on Pro-Ride. Hot Dixie Chick is the star everybody wants to see in the biggest race of the year for her division, and Jackson will further enhance his reputation for sportsmanship by giving her the opportunity on Thoroughbred racing's championship day. If it doesn't work out, she'll get the chance to kick butt again on dirt next year.
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