Post by Peter Gross on Sept 8, 2009 7:02:48 GMT -5
Saturday, September 5 was memorable times two for racing fans. In the afternoon, Rachel Alexandra ran a race loaded with historical implications, winning the Woodward Stakes by a head over Macho Again. To someone not intimately knowledgeable about horseracing, there might the inclination to say,'wow that was close, a head, she almost lost, ' and that would be profoundly inaccurate.
Rachel Alexandra was incredible in this race. Calvin Borel put her near the top from the moment the gates opened and the field of colts had no intention of displaying chivalry. One by one, they pushed her, as if there had been a pre-race conspiracy among them to do her as much harm as possible. Da'tara, who shocked at 38-1 in last year's Belmont went first, pushing Rachel Alexandra to a first quarter in sprinters' speed of :22.46. Past The Point took up the chase and that meant a half of :46.41, which, generally is way too fast for normal horses running nine panels. Rachel Alexandra covered the first six furlongs in a gasping 1:10.54 and there was a moment at the top of the stretch, when a few horses fanned out and seemed ready to break the filly's spell. Bullsbay loomed up with less than two furlongs to go, but his charge sputtered, Past The Point collapsed from his challenge and Da'Tara would stagger in last.
Down to the wire, Rachel Alexandra was in charge, even if Macho Again, whose jockey Robbie Albarado had carved out a most benign trip - in last most of the way - came barreling down the centre of the track to make it close at the wire.The charts say a head, the hearts say she's a superstar.
And there is good news, both for Rachel Alexandra and horse racing fans. Her owners have pretty well stated she won't run again this year. Why should she? What more could she possibly prove? She won the Kentucky Oaks by a ton, beat the boys in the Preakness, the Haskell and the Woodward Stakes and went unbeaten in eight races this year. Owner Jess Jackson has said she will run next year.
By the way, that win on Rachel Alexandra was a rare streak of sunshine for jockey Calvin Borel. Aside from Rachel's electrifying win, the lights were pretty well out for Borel at the Spa...he went 1 for 43 on all the other horses he rode.
So later that night, they ran the Metro Pace at Mohawk and if you've been wondering how we could ever fill the void left by the incomparable Somebeachsomewhere, wonder no more. Sportswriter, trained by Casie Coleman, parlayed a perfect trip from Mark MacDonald into a monster stretch run to win by a length and a half. Sportswriter, now unbeaten in five lifetime races was timed in 1:49.2, a world record for a two year-old pacer, one fifth of a second speedier than the record set in 2007 by Somebeachsomewhere. MacDonald steered Sportswriter into 5th down the backstretch and angled out to get benevolent cover from Woodstock. Into the Mohawk stretch, Sportswriter was shown open track and he gobbled it up like, well like a sportswriter at a pregame buffet.
Sportswriter has a few more pages to fill out before he can be reasonably compared with Somebeachsomewhere who won 20 of 21 races, but Sportswriter is definitely off to a great start.
And if summer has to come to an (unofficial) ending, that was some well-appreciated heat on the tracks provided by two fantastic horses on saturday.
Rachel Alexandra was incredible in this race. Calvin Borel put her near the top from the moment the gates opened and the field of colts had no intention of displaying chivalry. One by one, they pushed her, as if there had been a pre-race conspiracy among them to do her as much harm as possible. Da'tara, who shocked at 38-1 in last year's Belmont went first, pushing Rachel Alexandra to a first quarter in sprinters' speed of :22.46. Past The Point took up the chase and that meant a half of :46.41, which, generally is way too fast for normal horses running nine panels. Rachel Alexandra covered the first six furlongs in a gasping 1:10.54 and there was a moment at the top of the stretch, when a few horses fanned out and seemed ready to break the filly's spell. Bullsbay loomed up with less than two furlongs to go, but his charge sputtered, Past The Point collapsed from his challenge and Da'Tara would stagger in last.
Down to the wire, Rachel Alexandra was in charge, even if Macho Again, whose jockey Robbie Albarado had carved out a most benign trip - in last most of the way - came barreling down the centre of the track to make it close at the wire.The charts say a head, the hearts say she's a superstar.
And there is good news, both for Rachel Alexandra and horse racing fans. Her owners have pretty well stated she won't run again this year. Why should she? What more could she possibly prove? She won the Kentucky Oaks by a ton, beat the boys in the Preakness, the Haskell and the Woodward Stakes and went unbeaten in eight races this year. Owner Jess Jackson has said she will run next year.
By the way, that win on Rachel Alexandra was a rare streak of sunshine for jockey Calvin Borel. Aside from Rachel's electrifying win, the lights were pretty well out for Borel at the Spa...he went 1 for 43 on all the other horses he rode.
So later that night, they ran the Metro Pace at Mohawk and if you've been wondering how we could ever fill the void left by the incomparable Somebeachsomewhere, wonder no more. Sportswriter, trained by Casie Coleman, parlayed a perfect trip from Mark MacDonald into a monster stretch run to win by a length and a half. Sportswriter, now unbeaten in five lifetime races was timed in 1:49.2, a world record for a two year-old pacer, one fifth of a second speedier than the record set in 2007 by Somebeachsomewhere. MacDonald steered Sportswriter into 5th down the backstretch and angled out to get benevolent cover from Woodstock. Into the Mohawk stretch, Sportswriter was shown open track and he gobbled it up like, well like a sportswriter at a pregame buffet.
Sportswriter has a few more pages to fill out before he can be reasonably compared with Somebeachsomewhere who won 20 of 21 races, but Sportswriter is definitely off to a great start.
And if summer has to come to an (unofficial) ending, that was some well-appreciated heat on the tracks provided by two fantastic horses on saturday.
