NEWS
Rachel Alexandra to miss Apple Blossom
Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2010 4:35 PM
RACHEL ALEXANDRA WINNING PREAKNESS
Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club photo
by Mike Curry
The “Race for the Ages” lost one of its two heavyweight contenders on Sunday, when trainer Steve Asmussen and majority owner Jess Jackson said Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra will not be entered for the Apple Blossom Invitational Stakes (G1) on April 9.
The Medaglia d’Oro filly’s winning streak was snapped at eight on Saturday in the New Orleans Ladies Stakes when she finished second to Zardana (Brz). The race was expected to be a tuneup for the Apple Blossom and a showdown with Zardana’s stablemate Zenyatta, the undefeated two-time champion older female.
“Yesterday’s race, while a disappointment, helped us define Rachel Alexandra’s racing condition,” Jackson said in a statement on Sunday. “While she is healthy, just as I had anticipated, she is not in top form. Therefore, I decided today she will not be going to the Oaklawn invitational on April 9.
“Steve and I discussed this fully and we now regret we tried to accelerate her training in order meet the Apple Blossom schedule. We have a whole season before us to help define her greatness. She will tell us when her next race will be.”
Rachel Alexandra would need to be at her best to defeat Zenyatta, who carried 127 pounds and overcame traffic trouble to easily win the Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (G1) less than 30 minutes after Rachel Alexandra’s loss. Asmussen said she came out of her race in good order, but he realized that she is not on top of her game.
“She’s clearly not up to her previous level, so we’re going to regroup and come back again,’’ Asmussen told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “The disappointment from yesterday continues.”
Rachel Alexandra’s absence from the Apple Blossom means the purse will be reduced from $5-million to $500,000. Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella boosted the Apple Blossom purse to $5-million on the stipulation that both unbeaten champion Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra start in the race.
Asmussen said Sunday he was pleased with how Rachel Alexandra has recovered from her first start in more than six months.
“She came back well,” Asmussen said. “She ate last night, very sound this morning, walked the shedrow well. I’m very pleased with that.
“She was relaxed in her stall. She went to her tub when we fed her last night and cleaned up everything, walked well this morning and seemed very comfortable in her stall this morning.”
The New Orleans Ladies Stakes was expected to be simply a warm-up for the Apple Blossom, but when Zardana turned the 1 1/16-mile race into challenge, it became clear to Asmussen that Rachel Alexandra was not fit enough. She finished three-quarters of a length behind Zardana in her four-year-old debut.
Although Asmussen expressed concerns about her fitness level prior to the race, he blamed himself for the defeat after the race.
“We had talked about her being 75% or 80%,” he said. “The filly got tired but she cooled out fine and came back well from it; it’s just a case if we can move forward in a positive direction fitness-wise, as well as with everything else.
“Yesterday’s race is over. We can analyze it all we want, but her physical condition and her state of mind are what we need to concern ourselves with and we’ll address that moving forward.”
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
