Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta Dominate
Jockeys Calvin Borel and Mike Smith Continue Wins On Filly and Mare
Jul 8, 2009
Rachel Alexandra blew through her seventh consecutive win in the Mother Goose Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park on June 27, while five-year-old unbeaten Zenyatta kept her career record unblemished on the same day at Hollywood Park in the Vanity Handicap.
Calvin Borel, who won two of the three Triple Crown races this year, including the Preakness Stakes on Rachel A., and Hall of Famer Mike Smith, rode the girls to victory once more as their regular jockeys.
Zenyatta Chasing HOY Again
With no dominant male tearing up the major races, and the Triple Crown series being captured by three different winners, unbeaten Zenyatta may have her chance to cop Horse of the Year honors this time around. In 2008, Zenyatta received the most division votes of all the divisional voting for Eclipse Awards, but she lost overwhelmingly to Curlin for HOY.
Curlin repeated as HOY, based on his great triumph in the Dubai World Cup and second wins in the Stephen Foster Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, as well as other top victories.
Only Kentucky Derby champion Mine That Bird may have a shot at 2009 HOY at this juncture. The Birdstone gelding finished a driving second to Rachel A. in the Preakness, then stormed to the wire third in the Belmont Stakes, falling a few strides short of his half brother, Summer Bird.
A HOY vote may hinge on male performances in the fall Breeders' Cup Championships scheduled for Santa Anita's artificial ProRide surface.
Rachel A. Set Record in Mother Goose
Rachel Alexandra scorched her three competitors in the $270,000 Mother Goose, gliding to victory by 19-1/4 lengths. She blistered to a new stakes record, covering the 1-1/8 miles in 1:46.33 and eclipsing the mark of 1:46.58 blazed by Lakeway in 1994.
Secretariat holds the track record for 1-1/8 miles at 1:45-2/5, which he set in 1973, the year of his Triple Crown triumph.
Connections Praise Rachel A.
"How about that!" exclaimed Jess Jackson of his filly's stakes record. "We don't know where her bottom is," Jackson told interviewers after Rachel A's victory.
Jackson's Stonestreet Stables and Harold T. McCormack own Rachel A., having purchased the splotch-faced filly shortly before the Preakness Stakes.
Steve Asmussen trains the Medaglia d'Oro filly.
Zenyatta Grabs Win Number Eleven
In her eleventh career post, Zenyatta reached the winner's circle for a perfect eleventh win in the $287,000 Vanity Handicap.
A Street Cry (IRE) daughter, Zenyatta had no problem dragging 129 pounds to the wire first in the 1-1/8 miles Vanity. She stomped over five rivals in 1:48.15, pulling past the others in final strides enroute to a 2-1/2 lengths win.
Trainer John Shirreffs dismissed the weight assignment, explaining the mare's win under her poundage as something "champions do", something that can't be "...run from..." Cascapedia was the last horse to carry 129 pounds in the Vanity and win (1977). Zenyatta pulled 124 pounds to victory in last year's Vanity.
Jerry and Ann Moss own the undefeated mare.
Zenyatta On Course to Meet Rachel?
Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra would be the most exciting match-up left in the season with no males battling one another from the ranks of streak winners.
Depending on their remaining schedule for the summer, they could possibly lock hooves in the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic.
