At 6 a.m. (EDT) Sunday, just under 12 hours after her impressive victory in
Scott Blasi, Asmussen’s chief assistant, accompanied the
“She traveled great,” Blasi said. “She’ll be left alone the rest of
“We’re very pleased with how she ate last night and her attitude is
Since Jackson and McCormick purchased the filly about 10 days before the
“This time, we have something to measure it to, as far as how she feels and
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Asmussen did not rule out the filly running in the Belmont S. (G1) on June 6,
but he didn’t commit to it either. He said he will relay information about how
Rachel Alexandra recovers from the race and performs in the breeze to Jackson
and his wife, Barbara Banke.
“I personally think she’s proven what he set out to prove with her
immediately, which doesn’t eliminate anything,” Asmussen said. “But I think it
does take a tad of the urgency off it.”
Asmussen smiled at a question about the need to win two-thirds of the Triple
Crown with a filly.
“The reason she ran in the Preakness is because she was doing extremely
With her front-running victory, Rachel Alexandra validated the decision to
It was Asmussen’s second win the Preakness in three years. Curlin gave
“I’ve spent a lifetime trying to get into this position,” Asmussen said. “The
The Preakness win was clearly a bittersweet experience for veteran trainer
“When the gates opened, I was pulling for her,” Wiggins said. “Down the
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“I’m just really, really proud of her and Calvin. Racing is real fortunate to
have him out there like that. There’s nothing phony about him — it’s all
genuine. People see that and they realize that, and I’m just tickled for him.
I’ll tell you, if anyone deserves it he does.”
Wiggins was also impressed by Derby winner Mine That Bird, who closed
strongly to lose by only a length to Rachel Alexandra.
“I’ll tell you what, I was really proud of that Derby horse,” Wiggins said.
“Some of those guys were saying he might be a one-race wonder and that the wet
track (on Derby Day) might have had something to do with it, but he showed he
was legitimate. He really did.”
Asmussen has praised Wiggins’ work in the development of Rachel Alexandra,
whose final race for Wiggins was her record-smashing 20 1/4-length victory in
the Kentucky Oaks on May 1. Asmussen did so again on NBC Sports’ national
telecast of the Preakness on Saturday.
“I appreciate that,” Wiggins said. “It’s a tribute to the crew here at the
barn. I appreciate that, I really do.”
Trainer Chip Woolley reported that his Kentucky Derby winner MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone)
was feeling fine on the morning after his runner-up finish in the Preakness.
Mine That Bird failed to duplicate his last-to-first Derby performance Saturday,
but his last-to-dangerously close-second-place finish behind Rachel Alexandra at
Pimlico was still mighty impressive.
“Nobody can question his ability. Like I said: in the Derby, he passed 18
horses in a quarter of a mile — 18 of the best horses around in a quarter of a
mile. There’s no fluke in that,” Woolley said. “He did the same thing
(Saturday). He made a huge move and ran hard. We just didn’t get there.”
Mine That Bird dropped back to last again Saturday before picking up the
chase on the far turn. Yet, unlike the circumstances in his rail-hugging Derby
run under Calvin Borel, the little gelding’s new rider, Mike Smith, was forced
to swing wide to circle a wall of horses in front of him on the turn into the
homestretch. Mine That Bird made a strong wide run through the stretch, cutting
Rachel Alexandra’s lead from four lengths to one at the finish of the middle
jewel of the Triple Crown.
“Any time you have a horse that lays last in a 13-horse field, you’ve got a
big chance of having traffic trouble. This track, the way it was set up, I was
really concerned about getting a good trip around there. Sure enough, the horses
stacked up on the turn and hurt us,” Woolley said. “We couldn’t get one smooth
run through there and we had to check a few times and were in tight. Mike did a
great job riding the horse. I’m thrilled to death. I couldn’t ask more from the
rider. Things didn’t quite set up like you’d like. That’s horse racing.”
Woolley plans to van his gelding back to Churchill Downs on Monday to prepare
him for a start in the Belmont.
“My horse will be much more suited to the Belmont — big wide track, big wide
sweeping turns. It should play a little better to my horse. It’ll probably be a
shorter field, which eliminates some of the traffic,” the New Mexico-based
trainer said. “We’re excited about going. As long as he’s good the next couple
days, like he looks this morning, that’ll be the plan.”
Woolley revealed that Smith will have the mount aboard Mine That Bird in the
Belmont, even if Rachel Alexandra bypasses the third leg of the Triple Crown,
leaving Borel free.
“Like I kept telling people, the key to him was getting him back. He’d never
been taken back and sat on like that before, and that’s what I’d been trying to
make happen,” Woolley said. “I, finally, in Calvin, found a guy who would lay
him back there and do it like I wanted to do. Then, of course, Mike followed
suit very well (Saturday) and did a super job for us.”
Woolley credited Smith, a fellow New Mexican, for giving Mine That Bird a
heads-up ride, especially during a traffic build-up on the final turn.
“If Mike stays on the fence any longer than we did, we’d have ended up in
real trouble,” he said. “They were just stacked up on us, and if we’d have
stayed on the fence, we sure would have been in trouble.”
Woolley continues to have great admiration for his hard-trying gelding.
“You’ve got to be super proud of him. The horse runs through his bridle,” he
said. “Everything you ask of this horse, he just does it, lays it on the line.”
The emergence of Mine That Bird as a star on the Triple Crown trail has been
a rewarding experience for his trainer.
“You spend a lifetime working to get here. It’s kind of a stamp on your
career when you win that first one. Then, you come back and re-stamp that same
stamp on the next on,” Woolley said. “There’s no doubt we got him where we
wanted him.”
Mine That Bird, a 50-1 Derby long shot who was sent to post Saturday as the
6-1 third betting choice, is expected to have a presence in the East this year.
“Hopefully, we’ll run well in the Belmont. Then, we’ll probably spot him
again here somewhere. It’s such a long, hard trip from where we are that we’ll
keep him out here,” Woolley said. “As long as we’ve got spots we’re aiming at,
we’ll stay in this vicinity, somewhere within a decent hauling distance.”
In the short term, Woolley will concentrate on getting Mine That Bird ready
for the Belmont and a possible rematch with Rachel Alexandra.
“I’m not sure what their plans are, but if she comes, I guess we’ll see her,”
said Woolley, perhaps not as much in awe of the filly as the other trainers of
Preakness starters. “It would make for a great horse race.”