Will Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra ever meet in a race? Will Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra ever have a rematch of their Preakness showdown? The best chance of the latter happening is probably in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Mine That Bird's connections have already laid out his plan for the second half of the year. He is to race in the West Virginia Derby and then the Travers. Rachel will be going next in the Mother Goose at Belmont on June 27. Somehow, I don't imagine Rachel Alexandra's owner, wine mogul Jess Jackson, shipping her off to Charlestown. However, it would not surprise me in the least if she was then pointed to another showdown with the boys in the Travers. If that turns out to be the case, then the Travers is shaping up to be one heck of a race with the winners of the other 2 triple crown races already pointing towards it as their collective summer goal.
As for Zenyatta ever meeting Rachel, this is probably not as likely as you may think. Zenyatta's days on dirt are probably over. The Breeder's Cup is in California again this year, so there really is no reason for her to be shipped west to run on non-synthetics, as there are plenty of Southern California races for her to compete in leading up to the Breeder's Cup. Add to that the fact that she has already shown how well she can compete on the synthetic SoCal circuit (i.e her entire career except for one race in Arkansas). As for Rachel Alexandra, no one knows how she would fare on a synthetic surface. She is a queen amongst princesses (and princes!) on dirt, but many a horse has been unsuccessful in transferring their dirt dominance over to synthetic. Curlin is the perfect example. You can be sure that Jess Jackson will want to find out if she can run on synthetic, since he of all people will most certainly be in favor of a showdown of the top 2 females in training. But it will a very tricky decision for sure if there is any doubt, especially after what happened to Curlin last year.
Those are only 2 of a myriad of questions that I hope get answered over the course of the second half of the year. Hopefully the older male division starts to clear up a bit, but right now your guess is as good as anyone's as to who will become the leader of that pack.
Final thought - No one on the planet is more excited for the Secretariat movie than I. If there is anywhere in the country that has a midnight showing on opening day, I will be attending. However, I have until 2010 to finalize my plans. Hopefully this upcoming weekend will produce some memorable races. Until then, may your bets be profitable and your oat bags be plentiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment