NEWS
Rachel Alexandra dominant in Mother Goose
Posted: Saturday, June 27, 2009 5:34 PM
RACHEL ALEXANDRA
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Mike Curry
BlackBerry Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Rachel Alexandra made sure there was no suspense in the stretch of the $270,000 Mother Goose Stakes (G1), powering well clear under confident handling by jockey Calvin Borel and coasting to a 19 1/4-length romp on Saturday at Belmont Park (video).
Despite being geared down through the final furlong, the Medaglia d’Oro filly established a stakes record by completing 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.33. The previous Mother Goose record of 1:46.58 was set by Lakeway in the 1994 edition. The track record for 1 1/8 miles is 1:45 2/5, set by Secretariat on September 15, 1973.
Rachel Alexandra nailed down her seventh consecutive victory by a combined margin of 63 3/4 lengths, including three straight Grade 1 wins. In her Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Mother Goose victories against three-year-old fillies, Rachel Alexandra has won by a combined margin of 39 1/2 lengths. In between, she defeated males in the Preakness Stakes on May 16 at Pimlico Race Course.
Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick purchased Rachel Alexandra privately after she won the Kentucky Oaks by a record-setting margin of 20 1/4 lengths. She won the Preakness in her first start for new trainer Steve Asmussen and gave her new connections another thrill with a top performance in the Mother Goose.
"How about that!" Jackson said. “I am a modest guy. I was hoping for maybe ten lengths. She is a special filly, she is a champion, she is a lady.
"We don't know where her bottom is. She has beauty combined with speed, so fast. I think she's the best three-year-old, right now. She just broke a track record and she wasn't even asked."
The field for the Mother Goose was reduced to three on Saturday morning when Don’t Forget Gil was scratched because of a fever and Hopeful Image was scratched because she had not fully recovered from a bout of colic.
Sent off as the overwhelming 1-to-20 favorite, Rachel Alexandra was expected to turn the Mother Goose into a glorified workout but Malibu Prayer darted to the lead and set a sizzling pace with Grade 3 winner Flashing pressing from second. Rachel Alexandra, who raced on or just off the lead in her previous six starts, was reserved in third by regular rider Borel as Malibu Prayer drilled fractions of :22.57, :44.66, and 1:08.86 through six furlongs.
Rachel Alexandra moved up on the far turn when Borel let out a notch on the reins and drove to the lead from between her two challengers entering the stretch, putting the race away in just a few strides with an explosive burst of speed.
"I can't say enough about Calvin Borel's ride,” Asmussen said. “They took it right to her with :44 and change, the 1-to-9 shot, and all the pressure in the world. He just let them go about their business and did what's best for her, and he needs to keep doing that.
"To have a horse like her in your barn ... I am really fortunate. She's a great athlete. She's just extremely endearing to you. She has a soft and kind look and feel. When she walks over, she takes those great big strides. Everything about her, she just excites you. "
Bred in Kentucky by Dolphus Morrison, Rachel Alexandra improved to nine wins and two second in 12 career starts and boosted her earnings to $1,798,354. Out of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Lotta Kim, by Roar, she was previously trained by Hal Wiggins.
Jackson said this week that Rachel Alexandra will not race in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships because of the synthetic surface at Santa Anita Park.
“We're going to try to get up to Saratoga [Race Course] and see if we can find a race,” Jackson said of future plans for Rachel Alexandra. “We want to pick the spots for her. She tells us when to run.”
Jackson could get the matchup he wants with champion Zenyatta, however, as the unbeaten Street Cry (Ire) mare’s co-owner Jerry Moss said he would happily ship her east to set up the dream matchup after she won the Vanity Handicap (G1) on Saturday at Hollywood Park (video).
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
