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THOROUGHBRED BEAT JULY 30, 2009 by James Scully Rachel vs. Summer: Sunday's Haskell Invitational (G1) is a match-up between three-year-olds titans RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d'Oro) and SUMMER BIRD (Birdstone), and it could be the start of a great rivalry. Rachel Alexandra has the opportunity to take her reputation to a new level. The Preakness (G1) put her in the same company with Rags to Riches, Winning Colors and Genuine Risk, who all managed to win one leg of the Triple Crown, but none of them captured another Grade 1 event over males after winning their classic. Summer Bird is just starting to hit his best stride. He didn't make his career debut until March, breaking his maiden on March 19 at Oaklawn Park, and made his first start against winners in the Arkansas Derby (G2), recording a fast-finishing third, beaten just 1 1/4 lengths. Summer Bird took the overland route in the Kentucky Derby (G1), losing serious ground while wide on the final turn, but still offered a solid run for sixth. After gaining valuable seasoning in those two efforts, the Tim Ice trainee rolled to a convincing 2 3/4 score in the Belmont S. (G1), registering a career-best 105 BRIS Speed rating. If he stays healthy, he's going to be a serious force the rest of the season. It looks like quite a showdown. Prediction: I won't be surprised to see Summer Bird run down Rachel Alexandra in the stretch because I have a ton of respect for his ability, but I'll take the classy filly at Monmouth. Rachel Alexandra was the most impressive horse on the grounds during the build-up to the Kentucky Derby, and her 20 1/4-length thrashing in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) was the best performance I've even seen from a three-year-old filly. I thought $10 million was a bargain given her unlimited potential at the time, especially with the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill. Fillies beat males all the time on turf overseas, but we seldom see them win our premier dirt events in late summer/fall. And in this era, they never string together big wins over males on the main track. Rachel Alexandra is poised to make a run at the Haskell, Travers (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), and it will be an amazing accomplishment if she pulls off the trifecta. Summer Bird looks capable of derailing those plans at some point, but I expect to see him come up a little short on Sunday after making a strong run at the filly. Haters: Rachel Alexandra will have a lot of folks rooting against her. She won't be switching to a synthetic track for the Breeders' Cup, which means she probably won't ever face unbeaten champion ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]), and the Breeders' Cup was supposed to settle these arguments. In the current brisnet.com poll, 55.3 percent of the voters believe Rachel Alexandra would beat Zenyatta on a conventional dirt track, with the West Coast dynamo receiving only 34.6 percent of the vote. That's an affront to Zenyatta fans who think she's the better horse on any surface. Rachel Alexandra followed her Oaks triumph with a one-length score in the Preakness and a 20 1/4-length whitewashing in the Mother Goose (G1), but those performances didn't mean much to her detractors. "Rachel Haters" will tell you that she beat no one in the Preakness and was lucky that the wire came when it did, because she would've lost a jump after the wire. They overlook the fact that runner-up Mine That Bird (Birdstone) couldn't catch her on the gallop out. The Mother Goose was classified as a public workout due to the inferior competition. Don't expect any accolades from Rachel Haters if she wins the Haskell -- the competition will once again be easily dismissed and she won't be any better than 1995 Haskell winner Serena's Song -- but the rest of us can continue to enjoy the ride. Too late: Thoroughbred racing is already bracing for the PR disaster when Rachel Alexandra doesn't show up for the Breeders' Cup over Pro-Ride, and it will be another glaring example of the divide that these new surfaces have brought to the sport. It's a shame we didn't have the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance about 10 years ago. The organization has certified the safety of dirt tracks at Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, Delaware Park and Monmouth Park so far, and imagine what their presence would've meant to track operators in Southern California. They might have actually spent the time and money to improve the safety of their old dirt tracks. Instead, they bought the false claims of synthetic track operators from Europe and Down Under, and we're left with the unforeseen problems of these new surfaces. West Virginia Bird: MINE THAT BIRD became the first horse to use a New Mexico prep race as a springboard to winning the Kentucky Derby, and he'll be the first Derby winner to compete at Mountaineer Park when he lines up for Saturday's West Virginia Derby (G2). The late runner doesn't need to win -- BIG DRAMA (Montbrook) appears to have a sizable edge as the lone speed in the six-horse field -- but I want to see an encouraging effort from the little gelding that sets him up for the Travers in three weeks. Charity at two turns: CHARITABLE MAN (Lemon Drop Kid) is three-for-three in one-turn races and winless in a pair of starts at two turns. Saturday's 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy (G2) will be a key indicator as to whether he's better suited to the seven-furlong King's Bishop S. (G1) or the 1 1/4-mile Travers on August 29. The top three finishers from the July 4 Dwyer S. (G2) -- KENSEI (Mr. Greeley), CONVOCATION (Pulpit) and WARRIOR'S REWARD (Medaglia d'Oro), respectively -- will all return in the Jim Dandy, as well as SARATOGA SINNER (Harlan's Holiday), who was last seen taking the Holy Bull S. (G3) in late January, but they're all running for second if Charitable Man handles two turns.
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