8/29 (SAR): Personal Ensign S. (G1)

[cmorioles]

95 Beyer for now.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

RA basically competed against glorified mules in '09...

if you question rachels, then you must automatically question zenyattas competition, as she faced some of those same 'mules' in the classic. oh, but you don't want to consider that side of the argument, do you? but, keep worrying about '09, which is in the books. i'll keep looking forward to what's next-blame in the jcgc, qr in the woodward.

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by Danzig

then you're another who sounds clueless when discussing rachel and her campaign last year. it was a true rarity. i get you prefer zenyatta, but rachel had a fabulous year last year. sorry. you're letting personal preference and bias cloud your judgement. any other year, zenyatta wins hoy. but last year wasn't any other year.

It was a rarity and it was historic and it was fabulous. But how good was it? I feel like too much is made of the names on the races and the sexes of the horses she beat (in the case of the Woodward, the sexes and ages). She held off Mine that Bird and he's not won a race since and has one win in nearly two years. She beat Macho Again and Bullsbay but then every 3yo with a pulse beat them last year and beat them worse than she did. She was absolutely dominant against Summer Bird and that, for my money, was her top performance and the race that told me she was a really good one. I say we make too much out of the ages and sexes thing because we should be judging them by the quality of the horses beaten, not the age or sex. Take Serena's Song. She rarely gets mentioned but she beat 3yo males twice and even though she didn't beat older males, she did beat older Heavenly Prize and Lakeway in the Beldame. They were females but I'd take them over Macho Again and Bullsbay as tougher competition. Winning Colors beat a field of males that was probably 20x tougher in the Derby than Rachel did in the Preakness. One of them won the Cigar against older and another ran second in the BC Classic. She also beat them in the SA Derby. Instead of facing older males later, she was losing twice (by 3/4 length and then by a nose) to Personal Ensign. So Rachel was historic for beating Macho Again by a nose and Winning Colors is an afterthought for losing to Personal Ensign by one. Lost among all of the talk is how close we came to never seeing Rachel do any of this stuff. If she isn't sold to Jackson before the Preakness, her previous owner didn't want to run her against males. Would that mean that she would have somehow been less talented? Of course not. We were just lucky that she was put into the hands of someone that wanted to test her. If Winning Colors or Serena's Song weren't trained by Lukas, we may not have ever gotten a chance to see how they fared against the boys but it wouldn't mean they were any less talented than they were. A lot of what horses accomplish is not always solely based on how good they are but also on opportunity and timing. Rachel got lucky in that of the horses generally considered the top 5-6 3yos last year (Quality Road, Blame, Old Fashioned, The Pamplemousse, I Want Revenge, and Summer Bird), she only had to face one of them. None of that's her fault and of course she still had to go out and win the races and she proved herself as a top class horse by doing so and she earned HOY. But please, consider the quality of the competition faced more than the age and sex when talking about her season as one of the all-time greatest.

[Smooth Operator]

Originally Posted by Danzig

if you question rachels, then you must automatically question zenyattas competition, as she faced some of those same 'mules' in the classic. oh, but you don't want to consider that side of the argument, do you? but, keep worrying about '09, which is in the books.

Overall, the field Z faced in the BCC was light-years ahead of anything RA lined up against last year.

i'll keep looking forward to what's next-blame in the jcgc, qr in the woodward.

Me too ... 19

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Overall, the field Z faced in the BCC was light-years ahead of anything RA lined up against last year.





Me too ... 19

lol light years?

no it wasn't. they were comparable fields. you wanting the classic to be tougher, a higher standard, doesn't make it so.

and yeah, i hope zenyatta ties pepper's pride. no one wants the record to be held exclusively by a horse that only raced in new mexico.

[Danzig]

In a statement, Jess Jackson, co-owner of Rachel Alexandra, said: “We are disappointed in the result, as we are sure her countless fans are, but we are certainly not disappointed in her. She is still a superstar in our hearts and minds. The old sports adage applies ... on any given Sunday, anything can happen.”

Her trainer Steve Asmussen, said he and Jackson would evaluate Rachel Alexandra's condition before making a decision on where she would race next.

"We want to evaluate who we are and who she is and where she’s at. We’re just worried about her well-being,” he said somewhat cryptically.



i've got a bad feeling about her future racing career. i hope today wasn't her last hurrah.

[dagolfer33]

After chewing on it several hours, I think considering everything that happened this year and last year, they should still go to the BCC. I dont think she will win, but I think she should have a chance to take down Zenyatta.

[Smooth Operator]

Originally Posted by Danzig

lol light years?

no it wasn't. they were comparable fields. you wanting the classic to be tougher, a higher standard, doesn't make it so.

and yeah, i hope zenyatta ties pepper's pride. no one wants the record to be held exclusively by a horse that only raced in new mexico.

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

The only real shame is Z's connections. Rachels know she is not the same and they have really just run her accordingly. Look at the horse who tested her at Monmouth last time, look what she did today. Some people came on here saying she was actually good and moved up on dirt, yes she proved it today. The shame is this... Z would have not only won, but cruised in every race Rachel has been in this year. Dont get me wrong Rachel is HOY last year and like the article on DRF says nothing changes that, but she is not the same filly and not nearly as good as Z.

They certainly have run a pretty weak campaign. So perhaps you are right in saying that they believe (as you and others do) that she is significantly worse than last year. Personally, I don't see it.
Her performances last year were overrated by many.
Her performances this year are being underrated by many.

Not every winning performance is outstanding and not every second place performance is a barrel of crap. If you look at her last few races this year (including today's) I don't see how it puts her that much behind where she was last year. She wasn't Ruffian last year, no matter how much some people wanted her to be, and she isn't a pile of poo this year.....no matter how much Zenyatta's legions of worshipers might want her to be.

[Princess Doreen]

The first quarter was too fast. LAT came at Rachel hammer and tong. Rachel didn't win, but she made LAT yell uncle. Persistently was sitting chilly stalking the pace, Alan knew when to open up. It was devastating to see Rachel's lead dwindle to nothing. That final 1/16 was run in slow motion - she was barely lifting her feet off the ground, but she kept running on heart aand class alone.

And, I don't see anything wrong with the ride Calvin gave her. The issue about the use of the whip is a non-issue. It's a padded whip that she barely felt.

Rachel - you always perform like a champion, and today was no exception. Even in defeat, you are amazing. And, as this tired warrior was walking slowly back to the barn, the crowd gave her a well-deserved standing ovation.

On to the BC Distaff? (or whatever they are now calling it)

[clyde]

Why don't they just put the poor horsey in a retirement home?

[DaTruth]

At least RA's connections moved out of their comfort zone and ran RA at a distance that wasn't going to be her best. They could have run her in the Molly Pitcher instead and then pointed for the Beldame.

[westcoastinvader]

I've been pretty busy today.


I guess from reading here that Rachel Alexandra did not win in a short field that most here seemed to think was a walkover?

The winner paid $45?


For anyone who played exactas with the field with Rachel on the bottom, the $8 wager returned $94.00?



NEVER would have guessed that Rachel Alexandra would hit the board in a five horse field and still the trifecta would pay $228.


Now I have a better understanding of how Chicago/Arkansas/Bill's Wife Hillary Clinton became a US Senator from New York.

[ateamstupid]

So let's see, you know nothing about the race, but you still think it appropriate to deride everyone who didn't see the obvious $45 winner that had a career top BSF of 85 and hadn't developed a step since 2008. Even for a redboarder, that's lame.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

that's it? wow, i think i see the light. you're so right, they are light years ahead of the horses rachel faced last year. you've convinced me, just by a timely use of the emoticon. gee, thanks smooth operator.

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Patrick333

Anybody back on subject? When RA turned for home I thought she was home free. I guess the 1 1/4 got her today.

When watching the replay of yesterday's race, you could see quite visibly Rachel shortening stride once she hit the final 1/8th pole, I would term Persistently's race more as outlasting the competition, rather than running down the opposition, It was an okay race, but I wasn't particularily impressed with anyone's race yesterday.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by brockguy

69-1 the winner was on Betfair

She was an 80/1 shot on paper. Two wildly superior horses with similar running styles - and she was only the 2nd best horse of the remaining three. She was truly no great bargain at 69/1 even knowing the two favorites might hook up hard because Life At Ten had nothing to gain from finishing 2nd.

I didn't look yesterday - but I'd be curious to know what she was trading at to hit the board if you saw it.

[slotdirt]

Just thinking about Zenyatta for a second - has there ever been a horse who's made the HOF without ever running at Belmont, Saratoga, or Churchill? Just curious.

[Thunder Gulch]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

RA basically competed against glorified mules in '09...

Wait...I thought RA never faced Zenyatta.

[Port Conway Lane]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Just thinking about Zenyatta for a second - has there ever been a horse who's made the HOF without ever running at Belmont, Saratoga, or Churchill? Just curious.

Native Diver ?