by Jeff Lowe
With the Breeders’ Cup World Championships out of the equation and a showdown with Zenyatta still an uncertainty, owner Jess Jackson said Rachel Alexandra may get a break after the Woodward Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
Jackson left the door open for an opportunity to get Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra together on the track this fall, but he stressed that her physical condition will come first and that she has earned a four- or five-month rest in the near future.
“She has had a long campaign; she’s had 13 races as a two- and three-year-old, seven of them this year, and four of them in Grade 1s and the rest of them in Grade 2s with one exception, so she’s a tired horse in a way,” Jackson said. “That’s why we’re giving her long rests in between [starts]. She’s entitled to rest up for the campaign in 2010. We intend to try to race her again if her health and conditions are appropriate.”
Jackson said the Betfair/TVG Beldame Stakes (G1) on October 3 at Belmont Park would be an attractive option if Zenyatta would show up there, and he also mentioned the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) on the same card as a possibility. He said the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (G2) on November 27 at Churchill Downs would probably fall too late on the calendar.
“I want to give her four or five months rest,” Jackson said. “She’s certainly entitled to it.”
Jackson touched on a lack of depth in the older male division, which will be stretched thin between the Woodward on Saturday and the $1-million Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) on Sunday at Del Mar.
Among the older males who will concede eight pounds to Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward are Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) winner Macho Again and runner-up Asiatic Boy (Arg), ’08 Woodward runner-up Past the Point, Whitney Handicap (G1) winner Bullsbay, OBS Sunshine Millions Classic Stakes winner It’s a Bird, and Grade 2 winner Cool Coal Man.
“What you’re witnessing is the failure of people with great horses to race them in their four- and five-year-old years,” Jackson said. “It’s an issue that racing needs to face. I’m not in any way discounting Macho Again or any of the horses in this race, they are the best of what’s in that age group. We felt it would be a further definition of Rachel if she could take on older horses.”
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer