Super Race Is Off, and It’s a Wise Decision: Joe Drape

[Grits]

From New York Times columnist, Joe Drape. One who has covered the game longer than, and long before, many here were ever brought into this world by their parents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/sports/15racing.html?emc=eta1

(Excerpt)
It is certainly disappointing to horse enthusiasts, and Jackson and Asmussen will be the target of some name-calling. Something of a Hatfields and McCoys feud has developed between the backers of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta ever since Rachel Alexandra won the vote over Zenyatta for Horse of the Year.

They should not be ridiculed. They have made a wise decision.

The public, the sport and fans across the country have too much invested in these two amazing and accomplished athletes. Because of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, for the first time in decades the sport has been made accessible and relevant to folks who thought horse racing was a time-capsule relic, and a cruel one at that.

It is far more important to preserve that sentiment, as well as Rachel Alexandra’s dignity, than it is to force some sort of showdown that has often ended in calamity. Remember Ruffian against Foolish Pleasure?

Rachel Alexandra is not 100 percent fit right now, and beyond being away from the racetrack for six months, she is also coming off a clever but grueling 3-year-old campaign. Eight victories, three against the boys and one of those races against older male horses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/sports/15racing.html?emc=eta1

[46zilzal]

Agree...let the animal start showing some of the old form before the ultimate test because there is the possibility of calamity.

[Gorgeous George]

why not saddle borel and let Rachel ride him for the rest of the year then she really wont have anything to do

[cj's dad]

RA in the Pimlico Special ??

The time frame seems workable, barring any setbacks.

[Grits]

(Please--to be fair--take the time to read the Drape piece and this one, both in their ENTIRETY, particularly those posters that have indicated their wealth of great knowledge regarding fitness and training skill, etc, etc.)

Another excerpt, though a lengthy one from:

"Tight Schedule Adds Hurdle For Rachel"

Printed in the DRF March 12, written by Marcus Hersh,

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111349.html

"I thought her 2009 campaign, by the end of it, she was just tired," said Asmussen's assistant trainer Scott Blasi, who has spent as much time as anyone with Rachel Alexandra.

After the Woodward, and after the Saratoga meeting ended, Rachel Alexandra remained at Asmussen's Saratoga barn. Gone were the crowds, gone was the pressure.

"The month [after the Woodward] was awesome for her," said Blasi, who stayed behind with the Saratoga string. "No reporters, no cameras. We spent the whole month up there. I'd turn her out in a round pen. She's smart. She figured it out, and she wouldn't want to come in. I'd leave her out there, go eat lunch, I'd come back and she'd be out laying down, sunning. I mean, you talk about a horse that absolutely enjoys her time off, it was her. She'd lay down, she'd roll. I'd take her hay and water."

"In mid-October, we moved back to Churchill, but her time till then was about getting to be a horse," Blasi said. "Her whole disposition changed within three weeks hanging out there."

Back at Churchill, and back into the bustle. The stalls at the track in Louisville housed hundreds more horses than had been stabled at Saratoga. Gone was sunshine on her back and slow afternoons. Rachel Alexandra spent more time in her stall. A saddle soon enough got cinched on, a rider legged up not long after that.

"She was definitely heavier, softer, when she came back," Asmussen said. "We tack-walked for quite a while at first."

After walking around the shed row in Asmussen's Churchill barn for several weeks, Rachel Alexandra on Nov. 23 got her first look at a racetrack since she had been led away from the Woodward winner's circle.

"We took her for a little jog around the track once or twice before we left Churchill for New Orleans," Asmussen said.

Rachel Alexandra came to Fair Grounds on Nov. 27, her connections plotting nothing more than a yet-to-be-determined 2010 comeback race.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111349.html