Just when you thought we knew the direction that one very famous horse was heading in, less than 24 hours the plans have changed. Just like woman (or in this case, a filly) to change her mind. Well, maybe not her.....just her connections. The local television stations were at the Albany International Airport on Wednesday awaiting the flight that was carrying the reigning "Horse of the Year" Rachel Alexandra who was going in route to her summer destination place Saratoga for possibly one or two starts. The local media was notified on Monday at the annual Saratoga press conference that her connections would have Saratoga race course in their plans for Rachel's next race this summer. But, as this sport has shown to us during the years, things can change in a heartbeat.
The path that Rachel Alexandra has taken this year has been an interesting one to say the least. After winning the Woodward Stakes on Labor Day weekend last summer, her return to the races has been carefully spotted by her owner Jess Jackson and trainer; Steve Asmussen. It seems that the owner has been calling the shots this year where Rachel choses to race. Beaten in her first two starts this year versus suspect competition, she had to produce last time out and she returned to her winning ways at Churchill Downs . Now with three races under her belt, it was thought that since she would be stabled at Saratoga her next start would be here. But no faster then when she settled in her stall on the Oklahoma backstretch, her owner has decided to go for the "big bucks" and ship to the Jersey shore for her next race. Once again, money talks and the New York faithful lose out.
It was announced on Thursday afternoon that Rachel Alexandra would next race at Monmouth Park on July 24th in the ungraded Lady Secret Stakes going the mile and an eighth distance. Originally thought to race at the Spa on August 1st; one week later in the grade I - Ruffian Handicap at the same distance, the connections saw the "pot of gold" at the money Monmouth meet which the purse was raised from $150,000 to $400,000. This purse is 150,000 more than the grade I stake at Saratoga and was increased just for Rachel running in the race. Quite possibly a record purse for an "ungraded" race; not only the purse structure was changed, also the race date and race distance. The original Lady Secret Stakes was scheduled on the Haskell day undercard going a mile & an sixteenth. But, getting the reigning "Horse of the Year" to Monmouth's million dollar meet was the direction the connections wanted to go. Guess it's a case of "money going to money".
The saga of "team" Rachel continues much like a soap opera this season. A very carefully plotted out schedule last year led to history and eventually to "Horse of the Year" honors. This year it seems like the path changes just when it looked like she would face graded stakes competition. The horses that Rachel has faced this year have been anything but top quality runners. Although she did not disgrace herself in her first two starts, she should have beaten those opponents. She finally got her act together in her third start and was thought to step it up at Saratoga in a few weeks. Now, she goes to Monmouth for the money and quite possibly will face mediocre competition again. As we know, the battle lines continue between her fans and Zenyatta's fans. The Rachel fans hold it against Zenyatta because of her races on synthetic surfaces. Now, once again there is ammo for the Zenyatta faithful when it comes what competition Rachel faces and saying it's all about the money. Will it ever end with these two talented horses? Maybe both connections are the real problem, not the horses.
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