On March 13, 2010, in front of a crowd of more than 12,000 (the largest at the track since the rebuilt grandstand opened in 1997), Rachel Alexandra shocked everyone by coming in second by 3/4 of a length to Zardana in her first race of the 2010 year in the ungraded 1 1/16 miles $200,000 New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jockey Calvin Borel took Rachel into a stalking position behind Fighter Wing and let her go at the top of the stretch. The problem was that she was too tired by then and could not jet out in high gear like she did in past races. Borel did not ask much more of Rachel when Zardana went past her in the last furlong.
Interestingly, Zardana's finishing time was EXACTLY (to the 5th of a second) the same as Rachel's finishing time in the Fair Grounds Oaks she ran just a year ago as a 3 year old on the same track. And in that race, Rachel was being eased already at the 16th pole!
Video: Fair Grounds Oaks, March 14, 2009
The unthinkable happens when Rachel comes in second to Zardana
Borel said he was given instructions to wait until the 16th pole before making his move. The rider said he and Rachel could have passed by Fighter Wing earlier. His comments hinted that he wanted to run with her earlier.
“You know how I know she’s a real racehorse? She was beat [tired] when that other horse when by her but she didn’t quit. She dug in and fought right back and stayed with the winner the rest of the way. That’s the kind of racehorse she is. My little filly tried her heart out.” Rachel gave her best shot. It was 11-1/2 lengths from Rachel back to the 3rd place finisher, which means Zardana was better than we all thought she was.
"She needed the race, that's all," Borel said, "She needed the race more than anything." Six months, a half a year, off racing has turned out to be too long for Rachel. Steve Asmussen, her trainer, took the blame for the loss:
"She was strong early and got tired," Rachel Alexandra trainer Steve Asmussen said. "I'm just disappointed she didn't win today. It was a lack of fitness and it's our job to have her there and I didn't do it." Because of the outcome of this race, he has also said it is less likely Rachel will run in the Apple Blossom.
“How tired she is off of that will be established in the coming days,” Asmussen said after the race. “She’s not where I thought she was and if I had thought she’d get beat she wouldn’t run. You take her back, you evaluate her, you see how her mood is, her diet, how she goes back to the racetrack, how she breezes. No crystal ball could see that far ahead.”
There's no shame in a Horse of the Years' first loss. Rachel is in great company. The following horses were all Horse of the Year, but then lost their first start back: Ferdinand, Lady's Secret, John Henry, All Along, Affirmed and Kelso.
In fact, Kelso who holds the record for winning the most Horse of the Year titles (in 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964) has an interesting and encouraging statistic: Every single year he won the award, he lost the first start of the next year. Rachel is simply in company with many of the all-time greats!!
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