Trading cards to be offered for Apple Blossom stars

Fifty thousand trading cards of champions RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d'Oro)

and ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) will be printed Wednesday to provide free

souvenirs of the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational (G1) at Oaklawn Park on

April 9.

The cards -- 25,000 of each horse -- are being printed by the Hot Springs

Convention and Visitors Bureau to help maximize the impact for Oaklawn, the city

and Arkansas of this once-in-a-lifetime event, said Steve Arrison, the CVB's

CEO.

"We've done a series of trading cards in the past," Arrison said. "Most of

those have featured President Bill Clinton and his connection to his hometown of

Hot Springs. We did a card featuring the racehorse Smarty Jones, which proved

tremendously popular with the public.

"The cards carry the message that Hot Springs has a link to the subject of

the cards, and they've gone all over the globe publicizing Hot Springs."

The cards are being printed at a cost of $2,395, Arrison said, at Arkansas

Graphics in Little Rock.

The first public distribution of the cards will be at 10 a.m. (CST) March 2,

at the downtown Visitor Center in Hill Wheatley Plaza on Central Avenue at the

southern end of Bathhouse Row. One copy of each card will be given free to all

who attend, Arrison said.

Oaklawn also will distribute free copies of the cards on March 6.

The cards will be given away as long as supplies last, Arrison said.

"The Apple Blossom Invitational has already attracted unprecedented attention

around the globe for Oaklawn, Hot Springs and the state of Arkansas," Arrison

said. "These Apple Blossom trading cards will give people a free souvenir of a

great time at a great racetrack in a great city in a great state."

Calling it "one of the most important moments at Oaklawn and in Arkansas

sports," Oaklawn President Charles J. Cella announced earlier this month that

Oaklawn is increasing the purse of the Apple Blossom to $5 million, the largest

purse for a filly and mare race in the history of North American Thoroughbred

racing.

Cella said the owners of both Rachel Alexandra (Jess Jackson) and Zenyatta

(Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss) had agreed to bring their horses to Oaklawn for the

April 9 race, which is scheduled to feature eight other invited fillies and

mares.

Oaklawn has long been perceived as the ideal neutral ground for the dream

match-up, because both have used the Arkansas oval as a launching pad to future

success.

As a lightly-raced but promising four-year-old in 2008, Zenyatta captured her

first Grade 1 victory in that year's Apple Blossom, beating then reigning

champion Ginger Punch among others in her only start outside of California and

only start on a conventional dirt surface. She has since gone on to post a

perfect record, highlighted by her victory in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Ladies'

Classic (G1) and her triumph over males in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1),

in what was believed at the time to be the final race of her career. Rumblings

about Zenyatta's "un-retirement" began in December and Moss made it official on

January 16.

Rachel Alexandra kicked off her three-year-old campaign at Oaklawn with a

pair of eye-popping stakes wins in the Martha Washington and the Fantasy S.

(G2). Her record victory in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) clearly stamped her as the

best three-year-old filly in the nation. She proved more than that in her next

start when she became the first filly to win the Preakness S. (G1) in 85 years.

Rachel Alexandra beat three-year-old colts again in the Haskell (G1), easily

knocking off eventual champion three-year-old male Summer Bird (Birdstone), and

became the first three-year-old filly to win the prestigious Woodward S. (G1)

against older males in September.

She was named the 2009 Horse of the Year over Zenyatta at the Eclipse Awards

ceremonies on January 18.

"We have always pursued a goal of bringing the world's best racing to

Arkansas," Cella said. "That is what led us to create the Racing Festival of the

South more than 30 years ago. We have been even more fortunate in recent years.

That gives us the opportunity to fulfill the promises we continually make to our

fans, our horsemen and all of our supporters -- and it will most certainly

fulfill every promise made."